| Abstract: | To estimate the genetic diversity in the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis), the randomly amplified polymorphic DNA technique was applied to examine ten animals captured from the Yangtze River. Out of 20 arbitrary primers used in the experiment, seventeen produced clearly reproducible bands. Calculated by Nei's formula d=1-N_(AB)/NT, the genetic distances ranged from 0.0986 to 0.5634. Compared with other cetacean populations, this genetic distance is quite low. Such a low genetic diversity suggests that this population may be suffering from reduced genetic variation, and be very fragile. More studies are needed for understanding the basis for this apparent low genetic diversity and to help protect this endangered, unique population. |
