@MASTERSTHESIS{ 2008:1569087253,
 	title = {Identificação de espécies de carnívoros (mammalia, carnívora) utilizando sequências de DNA e sua aplicação em amostras não-invasivas},
 	year = {2008},
 	url = "http://tede2.pucrs.br/tede2/handle/tede/8077",
 	abstract = "DNA sequences for species-level identification of biological materials have achieved considerable
 popularity in the last few years, especially in the context of the DNA barcoding initiative. Species
 assignment of biological samples such as hairs, feathers, pelts and particularly faeces is a crucial step
 for those interested in studying ecology and evolution of many species with these samples. This is
 especially the case for carnivores, whose elusive habits and low densities highlight the importance of
 studies based on noninvasive samples. However, the current lack of standardized assays for
 carnivore identification often poses challenges to the large-scale application of this approach, as well
 as the cross-comparison of results among sites. Here we evaluate the potential of two short (<250 pb)
 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) segments located within the genes ATP synthase 6 and cytochrome
 oxidase I as standardized markers for carnivore identification. Between one and eleven individuals of
 66 carnivore species were sequenced for one or both of these mtDNA segments and analyzed using
 three different approaches (tree-based, distance-based and character-based), in conjunction with
 sequences retrieved from public databases. In most cases, conspecific individuals had lower genetic
 distances from each other relative to other species, resulting in diagnosable monophyletic clusters.
 Notable exceptions were the more recently diverged species, some of which could still be identified
 using diagnostic character attributes, species-specific haplotypes, or by reducing the geographic
 scope of the comparison (restricting the analysis to a single zoogeographic region). Additional in silico
 analyses using a short cytochrome b segment frequently employed in carnivore identification were
 also performed aiming to compare performance to that of our two focal markers. We then tested the
 performance of these segments in the identification of carnivore faeces via three case studies: (i) felid
 faeces collected in a controlled zoo experiment, aimed at assessing whether DNA from rabbit prey
 would contaminate the resulting sequences; (ii) field-collected faeces from the Brazilian Cerrado
 presumed to be from maned wolves and containing prey remains (hairs, bones, feathers), aimed at
 investigating the efficiency of predator identification and occurrence of prey DNA interference; and (iii)
 field-collected scats from an Atlantic Forest study site, also addressing the issue of PCR success rate
 and identification efficiency. In spite of some relevant differences in some aspects of their
 performance, our results indicate that both of our focal segments have a good potential to serve as
 efficient molecular markers for accurate species-level identification of carnivore samples.",
 	publisher = {Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul},
 	scholl = {Programa de Pós Graduação em Zoologia},
 	note = {Escola de Ciências}
}