Transferrin variation in caribou (Rangifer tarandus L.) on the Canadian Arctic islands

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Abstract
Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was used to analyse transferrin variation in caribou from the Canadian Arctic islands. Sixteen alleles were detected in Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi). The most common allele was TfG2, which increased in frequency from 0.167 at the Boothia Peninsula to 0.236 in the Peel population and 0.340 in the Parry population. The presence of this allele, which is the most common allele in Svalbard reindeer (R. t. platyrhynchus) and not detected in Norwegian reindeer (R. t. tarandus), suggest a common origin for the peary caribou and the Svalbard reindeer. The large genetic distance in the transferrin locus between continental and island populations suggest the isolation of a High Arctic population in a northern refugium during the Wisconsin glaciation.