Patterns of genetic variation in four white-tailed deer subspecies from northeastern Mexico

Abstract

The introduction of Odocoileus virginianus texanus in areas outside of its natural distribution has caused crossbreeding among subspecies that could affect native germplasm. To manage these populations correctly, genetic variability among O. v. texanus, O. v. veraecrusis, O. v. carminis and O. v. miquihuanensis was determined in northeastern México using the Base Escision Sequence Scanning technique (BESS-T) to analyze the mitochondrial region (D-loop) in 106 DNA samples. Twenty-four haplotypes were found: 17 in O. v. texanus (four shared with the other subspecies), three haplotypes in O. v. veraecrusis, two in O. v. carminis and two in O. v. miquihuanensis. O. v. texanus inter- and intra-population variability was evaluated according to its geographic origin. It was concluded that the genetic diversity in the State of Tamaulipas (0.89) was higher than in the States of Coahuila (0.82) and Nuevo León (0.56).