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The goal for using genetic information derived from embryo samples is to gain insight into the reproductive biology of adult white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus Richardson. The relationship between egg development stages on the extraction of quality DNA was determined, and subsequent genotype data were used to infer contributing spawner numbers. White sturgeon DNA was present in extractions from all stages; however, pre-gastrulation stage embryos generally failed to amplify sufficient genetic loci for analysis. Using experimentally created families, multivariate ANOVA and maximum-likelihood sibship methods estimated the presence of 10 contributing parents from 11 actual adult spawners. It was observed that unidentified half-sibling relationships (offspring sharing one parent) caused error for inferring parent numbers. Genetic methods estimated 13–40 parents potentially contributed to a collection of wild-caught embryos, with variable numbers of parents inferred from separate spawning events (varying from 8 to 24). Egg source material provides a means to enhance the accuracy of annual spawning population size estimates, which is important for informing habitat restoration, harvest and water management decisions and recovery planning.

An international multi-laboratory project was conducted to develop a standardized DNA database for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ). This project was in response to the needs of the Chinook Technical Committee of the Pacific Salmon Commission to identify stock composition of Chinook salmon caught in fisheries during their oceanic migrations. Nine genetics laboratories identified 13 microsatellite loci that could be reproducibly assayed in each of the laboratories. To test that the loci were reproducible among laboratories, blind tests were conducted to verify scoring consistency for the nearly 500 total alleles. Once standardized, a dataset of over 16,000 Chinook salmon representing 110 putative populations was constructed ranging throughout the area of interest of the Pacific Salmon Commission from Southeast Alaska to the Sacramento River in California. The dataset differentiates the major known genetic lineages of Chinook salmon and provides a tool for genetic stock identification of ...