1National Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Rural Development Administration, Jeju, Jeju 690–150, Republic of Korea.
2Department of Life Science, College of Natural Sciences, Cheju National University, Jeju 690–756, Republic of Korea.
3Department of Science Education, College of Education, Cheju National University, Jeju 690–756, Republic of Korea.
*For correspondence: Tel: +82-64-754-3283; Fax: +82-64-725-4902; E-mail: sciedu@cheju.ac.kr
This study was focused on species identification and sex determination of Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus) by duplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using two primer sets of sex determining region Y (SRY) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome B (CYTB) genes. The CYTB sequences showed 99.5% similarities in identity with Chinese water deer. The length of water deer SRY gene was 687-bp for 228-amino acids which is 3-bp shorter than those reported from other cervids. Males had two bands: a common CYTB and additional SRY. This study further suggested that duplex PCR test could be a rapid and precise method for sex determination using SRY gene and for species identification as well as for internal positive control in PCR reaction utilizing mitochondrial CYTB gene.
Duplex PCR, CYTB, SRY, Sex, water deer
