Standardising multi-laboratory microsatellite data in Pacific salmon: an historical view of the future

• Published in: Ecology of freshwater fish Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 597 - 605
• Main Authors: Moran, P., Teel, D. J., LaHood, E. S., Drake, J., Kalinowski, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-12-2006
• Subjects: microsatellite; Oncorhynchus; Pacific salmon; population genetics
• ISSN: 0906-6691; 1600-0633
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0633.2006.00201.x

–  For at least 15 years, multiple Pacific Rim Laboratories have cooperated to standardise the collection of Pacific salmon genetic data. For species such as Chinook salmon and chum salmon, allozyme electrophoretic data sets now include hundreds of populations sampled over multiple years throughout the north Pacific. More recently, microsatellite DNA markers have emerged as a new cornerstone of Pacific salmon genetic research. The allozyme experience provides at least two important lessons regarding shared, standardised databases. First, interlaboratory standardisation is sufficiently costly and time consuming that little progress is typically made in the absence of specific fishery management and conservation needs; thus immediate needs will direct future standardisation. Secondly, justified or not, there are significant concerns regarding intellectual propriety and other perceived privileges associated with unpublished genetic data that are shared among laboratories. This article describes challenges to genetic standardisation relative to new research goals, along with specific suggestions for meeting those challenges.