Detection of sex specific DNA fingerprint bands in Peregrine falcon using non radioactive 33.6 and 33.15 human probes

Although originally developed for humans, DNA fingerprinting is now widely applied in animal species. Potential applications of this technique in the study of wild and domesticated animals are multiple and diversified and the human minisatellite probes 33.6 and 33.15 (1) have been used to generate informative DNA banding patterns from a wide range of animal species. The advent of non-isotopically labelled probes made their use into routine technique more convenient (2). We have investigated the application of the probes 33.6 and 33.15, labelled with alkaline phosphatase and detected by chemiluminescence for individual identification and parentage analysis within raptor species. Besides detecting numerous autosomal loci, each probe allowed the detection of a DNA fragment present only in DNA profiles obtained from female peregrine falcons and transmitted to female offspring only.