%0 Journal Article
%T Genetic characterization of Caretta caretta specimens from Italian and Maltese museums spanning over a hundred years
%A Luisa Garofalo
%J Acta Herpetologica
%D 2011
%I Firenze University Press
%X Museum collections have proven to be a useful source of samples for the reconstruction of evolutionary history and phylogeography of many animal species. Genetic analysis of museum specimens of marine turtles has never been reported before for Italy. We collected through minimally invasive methods, biological material from Caretta caretta specimens dating from the end of the 19th century to 2003, belonging to four museum collections. Control loci were 4 microsatellites (Cc7, Cc141, Cm72 and Cm84, in order of increasing MW) currently used in the literature. Specificity of amplification, appropriate molecular behavior and sequence reproducibility were monitored. Individual genotypes excluded contamination as a major flaw in the data. We sequenced 380 bp of the mtDNA control region. All individuals but 2 were successfully sequenced. Haplotype CC-A2 was found in 68 individuals, whereas CC-A1 and CC-A3 were found only in one Tyrrhenian and one S-Adriatic specimens, respectively. We showed that genetic analysis of marine turtles from museum specimens is feasible and can potentially provide data on cohorts of several generations ago. If expanded to additional series the combined use of genetic data and information on place and date of collection, sex, life stage and cause of death, can produce valuable knowledge on a species that is currently endangered, and is also difficult to study in the wild. The present work not only added to the knowledge of the biology of C. caretta, but also generated data whose primary beneficiaries are the collaborating museums.
%U http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ah/article/view/8961