Abstract
The grasscutter (Thryonomys swinderianus) is a wild and fairly large rodent that inhabits sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana and most parts of Western and Central Africa, the animal is hunted for its meat because it is a delicacy and relatively abundant compared to other mammals used as bushmeat. There have been efforts to domesticate it over the past few decades but genetic information available on this species is scanty. We investigated the genetic diversity of the grasscutter across three agro-ecological zones in Ghana using mitochondrial D-loop region and 10 microsatellite markers recently developed. Hair samples were collected from Guinea Savanna (n = 17), Forest (n = 22), Coastal Savanna (n = 54) zones as well as the Volta Region (n = 16) which is separated by the Volta Lake. Out of 30 mitochondrial haplotypes found, 15 were obtained from Guinea Savanna, seven from Forest, 13 from Coastal Savanna and four from the Volta Region. Both mitochondrial and microsatellite analysis indicated that the Guinea Savanna and Coastal Savanna populations are the closest but differentiated from both Forest and Volta Region populations. These results shed some light for the first time on the genetic structure and gene flow of grasscutter populations in Ghana.
