Genetic assessment of captive Chinese water deer populations in Zhoushan Archipelago, China

Chinese water deer is a rare and vulnerable animal in China because of the poaching for medical use and the habitat loss. In this study, the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of 40 Chinese water deer from three populations in Zhoushan Archipelago were investigated with ten highly polymorphic microsatellite loci, including 4 screened from the nuclear DNA in the study, and 6 selected from the literature. According to the results, these captive populations had a higher genetic diversity than other rare cervid species, such as forest musk deer. No signs of inbreeding were detected. Low genetic differentiation among these populations was found. The probable reasons included the isolation by distance, the exchange among islands, or the supplement of the wild Chinese water deer. We proposed the deer raisers to strengthen the exchanges from different islands or mainland, and if possible, some deer would be returned to the wild to expand the wild population. •Four highly polymorphic microsatellite loci of Chinese water deer were screened.•All of the three captive populations of Chinese water deer showed higher genetic diversity.•No breeding was detected in the captive populations.•Low genetic differentiations among the three populations on different islands were found.