Data from: A test of somatic mosaicism in the androgen receptor gene of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)

Background: The androgen receptor, an X-linked gene, has been widely
studied in human populations because it contains highly polymorphic
trinucleotide repeat motifs that have been associated with a number of
adverse human health and behavioral effects. A previous study on the
androgen receptor gene in carnivores reported somatic mosaicism in the
tissues of a number of species including Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). We
investigated this claim in a closely related species, Canada lynx (Lynx
canadensis). The presence of somatic mosaicism in lynx tissues could have
implications for the future study of exonic trinucleotide repeats in
landscape genomic studies, in which the accurate reporting of genotypes
would be highly problematic. Methods: To determine whether mosaicism
occurs in Canada lynx, two lynx individuals were sampled for a variety of
tissue types (lynx 1) and tissue locations (lynx 1 and 2), and 1,672
individuals of known sex were genotyped to further rule out mosaicism.
Results: We found no evidence of mosaicism in tissues from the two
necropsied individuals, or any of our genotyped samples. Conclusions: Our
results indicate that mosaicism does not manifest in Canada lynx.
Therefore, the use of hide samples for further work involving
trinucleotide repeat polymorphisms in Canada lynx is warranted.