Data from: A single-nucleotide polymorphism-based approach for rapid and cost-effective genetic wolf monitoring in Europe based on noninvasively collected samples

Noninvasive genetics based on microsatellite markers has become an
indispensable tool for wildlife monitoring and conservation research over
the past decades. However, microsatellites have several drawbacks, such as
the lack of standardisation between laboratories and high error rates.
Here, we propose an alternative single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based
marker system for noninvasively collected samples, which promises to solve
these problems. Using nanofluidic SNP genotyping technology (Fluidigm), we
genotyped 158 wolf samples (tissue, scats, hairs, urine) for 192 SNP loci
selected from the Affymetrix v2 Canine SNP Array. We carefully selected an
optimised final set of 96 SNPs (and discarded the worse half), based on
assay performance and reliability. We found rates of missing data in this
SNP set of <10% and genotyping error of ~1%, which improves
genotyping accuracy by nearly an order of magnitude when compared to
published data for other marker types. Our approach provides a tool for
rapid and cost-effective genotyping of noninvasively collected wildlife
samples. The ability to standardise genotype scoring combined with low
error rates promises to constitute a major technological advancement and
could establish SNPs as a standard marker for future wildlife monitoring.