A PCR‐RFLP assay for gender assignment in the three‐toed sloths (Bradypus, Pilosa, Bradypodidae)

Abstract

The three-toed sloths (Bradypus) are slow-moving arboreal neotropical mammals. Understanding demographic variables (such as sex ratio) of populations is a key for conservation purposes. Nevertheless, gender assignment of Bradypus is particularly challenging because of the lack of sexual dimorphism in infants and in adults, particularly B. torquatus, the most endangered of the three-toed sloths, in which sex is attributed by visual observation of the reproductively active males. Here, we standardized a method for sexing Bradypus individuals using PCR-RFLP of sex-linked genes ZFX/ZFY. This assay was validated with known-gender animals and proved accurate to assign gender on three Bradypus species.

A rapid approach for sex assignment by RAD-seq using a reference genome

“…Nevertheless, these methods depend on amplification reliability and external controls [14,15]. Other commonly used approaches are based on differences in size polymorphisms among X and Y homologous fragments such as Amelogenin gene size [16], or on the existence of unique restriction sites in a Y fragment such as zinc finger genes [17][18][19]. However, these methods do not apply to all taxa [15].…”

A rapid approach for sex assignment by RAD-seq using a reference genome

“…Other commonly approaches are the differences in size polymorphisms among X and Y homologous fragments, e.g. Amelogenin gene size (Bailey et al 1992), or the existence of unique restriction sites in a Y fragment, like zinc finger genes (Aasen and Medrano 1990; Munshi-South et al 2008; Martinelli et al 2010), although, they do not apply to every taxa (Fernando and Melnick 2001).…”