A test of somatic mosaicism in the androgen receptor gene of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis).
BACKGROUND
The androgen receptor, an X-linked gene, has been widely studied in human populations because it contains highly polymorphic trinucleotide repeat motifs that have been associated with a number of adverse human health and behavioral effects. A previous study on the androgen receptor gene in carnivores reported somatic mosaicism in the tissues of a number of species including Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). We investigated this claim in a closely related species, Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis). The presence of somatic mosaicism in lynx tissues could have implications for the future study of exonic trinucleotide repeats in landscape genomic studies, in which the accurate reporting of genotypes would be highly problematic.


METHODS
To determine whether mosaicism occurs in Canada lynx, two lynx individuals were sampled for a variety of tissue types (lynx 1) and tissue locations (lynx 1 and 2), and 1,672 individuals of known sex were genotyped to further rule out mosaicism.


RESULTS
We found no evidence of mosaicism in tissues from the two necropsied individuals, or any of our genotyped samples.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that mosaicism does not manifest in Canada lynx. Therefore, the use of hide samples for further work involving trinucleotide repeat polymorphisms in Canada lynx is warranted.
Department of Environmental & Life Sciences, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, K9J 7B8, ON, Canada. melanieprenti@trentu.ca.
Melanie B
MB
Prentice
Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, K9J 7B8, ON, Canada. Jeff.Bowman@ontario.ca.
Jeff
J
Bowman
Biology Department, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, K9J 7B8, ON, Canada. pawilson@trentu.ca.
Paul J
PJ
Wilson
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D046008:Lynx / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D009030:Mosaicism; D011944:Receptors, Androgen / Q000235:genetics*; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics
D011944:Receptors, Androgen