Genetic diversity in the Yangtze finless porpoise by RAPD analysis

To estimate the genetic diversity in the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaenaphocaenoides asiaeorientalis), the randomly amplified polymorphic DNA techniquewas applied to examine ten animals captured from the Yangtze River. Out of 20 arbitrary primers used in the experiment, seventeen produced clearly reproducible bged from 0.0986 to 0.5634. Compared with other cetacean populations, this genetic distance is quite low. Such a low genetic diversity suggests that this population may be suffering from reduced genetic variation, and be very fragile. More studiesare needed for understanding the basis for this apparent low genetic diversity and to help protect this endangered, unique population.