engleski

Diversity of mitochondrial DNA in fallow deer (Dama dama) from Brijuni National park, Croatia - short communication

Fallow deer (Dama dama) are one of the most important game species in Europe and approximately 5 million animals are raised on farms globally. These deer are considered to be indigenous in Europe, but during the last ice age became extinct from most of their range except Sicily, the Balkan Peninsula and Anatolia. Research suggests that after the Middle Ages the indigenous population only survived in Anatolia (today’s Turkey and Iran), so all present worldwide fallow deer populations were reintroduced from there. In Croatia, the species is mostly kept in fenced areas, while breeding in open hunting grounds or farms is rare. The goal of our research was to analyze the genetic diversity of fallow deer that live in the open grasslands of the Croatian island Veliki Brijun on an area of 5.72 km2. DNA was isolated from the muscle tissue of 22 animals and 405 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA control region were sequenced. One polymorphic site and two haplotypes were detected, both matching sequences from Germany, while one of the haplotypes was also previously detected in fallow deer in Hungary and Italy. The mtDNA diversity of Dama dama from Brijuni National park was rather low but, considering the island’s isolation, the obtained results were in accordance with the diversity of previously researched European continental populations of fallow deer.

haplotype diversity, mitochondrial DNA, control region, island population, Dama dama

nije evidentirano