DIRECT PCR-RFLP BASED SPECIES IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN  WILD CARNIVORES BY NON-INVASIVE SAMPLING

Sofi Umer Bashir; M G Jayathangraj; Insha Afzal

doi:10.48165/

Authors

Sofi Umer Bashir Department of Wildlife Science, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai - 600 007, Tamil Nadu (India)
M G Jayathangraj Department of Wildlife Science, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai - 600 007, Tamil Nadu (India)
Insha Afzal Division of Livestock Production and management, Faculty of Veterinary sciences and Animal Husbandry, S.K. University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Shuhama, Alusteng, Ganderbal - 190 006, Jammu and Kashmir (India)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48165/

Keywords:

Carnivores, forensic, markers, mtDNA, PCR-RFLP, scatology, speciation, sympatric

Abstract

In field conditions such as forest ranges, movement corridors or in areas prone to man animal conflict very often the only evidence/specimens available for investigation are animal scat, fur, hairs, epidermis, etc. Since animal scat contains denuded intestinal epithelial cells it can provide genetic material which can be used for further analysis and other downstream studies. In present study surface scrapings from faecal samples of 5 different carnivore species viz., tiger (Panthera tigris), lion (P. leo), leopard (P. pardus), domestic dog (Canis familiaris) and domestic cat (Felis catus) were collected for DNA extraction using standard kit based protocols. A fragment of 16S rRNA gene of mitochondrial DNA was amplified using specific primers. The amplicons generated were subjected to restriction digestion. Species identification and differentiation was done using fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The results depicted the utility and effectiveness of molecular scatology based PCR-RFLP technique for identification of wild carnivore species in forensic investigations. The observations also highlighted the potential of highly conserved mitochondrial DNA markers like 16SrRNA gene to be employed for species identification and differentiation of wild carnivores.

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