Julie Willingham
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Julie Willingham |
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JULIE WILLINGHAM
Department of Biology
Mentor: Terry Derting
Title of Presentation: Determination of Prarie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster) Paternity by RAPID-PCR
Presented at: MSU Sigma Xi Annual Research Symposium and Poster Competition, 1999
The research was supported by: Center for Institutional Studies and Research, MSU ABSTRACT The objectives of my research were to 1) determine if female prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster, mated preferentially with males that had attractive odors and were in good nutritional condition and 2) identify DNA primers suitable for use in paternity analyses of prairie voles. I tested the hypothesis that female voles mate preferentially with males that are in good nutritional condition and that have attractive odors. RAPID Polymerase Chain Reaction analysis was used for the paternity analyses to determine whether females mated with good-condition or poor-condition males. Determination of paternity was based on DNA bands shared by the progeny and the potential sires in question. My preliminary data indicated that female prairie voles did not mate consistently with good-condition males, whose odors the females preferred. These results, if confirmed may bring into question the monogamous social system attributed to prairie voles.
| College Home Page | Date Modified July, 1999
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