Molecular Methods for the Detection of Natural Hybrids in Sturgeon Populations

Due to construction of the Iron Gates dams, the Lower Danube has suffered a decrease in sturgeon populations. The dams have decreased sturgeon habitat area, which in turn has caused an overlap of reproduction areas for all sturgeon species. The ease with which sturgeon species can create hybrid offsprings gave rise to an increase in the number of hybrid sturgeon species now found in the Lower Danube area. We propose a set of molecular methods for hybrid species using DNA markers represented by microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA. This identification data and methodology is important for use on sturgeon farms due to the need to correctly identify species of sturgeons. Using the proposed methodologies, it is possible to avoid identification errors that might appear when using only morphological criteria to idenfy sturgeons