Presenter Information
Ashley Ruddy, B.S. Forensic Science and Law Program
Abstract
Populations of feral cats (Felis catus) have drawn public attention due to a variety of reasons, including the increasing population size and decreasing native fauna populations. Several communities have implemented the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) method, developed in Rome. This study examined whether cats that live in a certain social environment (colony cats) are more likely to be related than cats of the general population (non-colony cats). The degree of relatedness was to be determined separately for the populations. The alternative hypothesis for this study is that colony cats are more related than non-colony cats.
Frankie’s Friends, spay and neuter clinic, headed by Dr. Becky Morrow, was the ear tip provider for this research. The sample size is n=40 colony cat and n=40 non-colony cat ear tips. The extraction method was Qiagen QIAamp DNA Mini Tissue Kit, followed by quantitation using the NanoDrop Lite. Two primer sequences, Lf15926 and Hf3 were used to amplify the HV1 region of mtDNA followed by sequencing with the ABI Big Dye Kit, 3130 Genetic Analyzer and Chromas Software.
Keywords: degree of relatedness, mtDNA, TNR
School
Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences
Advisor
Lisa Ludvico, Ph.D.
Submission Type
Poster
Included in
Testing Kinship via Mitochondrial DNA on Colony vs. Non-Colony Cats
Populations of feral cats (Felis catus) have drawn public attention due to a variety of reasons, including the increasing population size and decreasing native fauna populations. Several communities have implemented the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) method, developed in Rome. This study examined whether cats that live in a certain social environment (colony cats) are more likely to be related than cats of the general population (non-colony cats). The degree of relatedness was to be determined separately for the populations. The alternative hypothesis for this study is that colony cats are more related than non-colony cats.
Frankie’s Friends, spay and neuter clinic, headed by Dr. Becky Morrow, was the ear tip provider for this research. The sample size is n=40 colony cat and n=40 non-colony cat ear tips. The extraction method was Qiagen QIAamp DNA Mini Tissue Kit, followed by quantitation using the NanoDrop Lite. Two primer sequences, Lf15926 and Hf3 were used to amplify the HV1 region of mtDNA followed by sequencing with the ABI Big Dye Kit, 3130 Genetic Analyzer and Chromas Software.
Keywords: degree of relatedness, mtDNA, TNR