title: Conservation of wild animals by assisted reproduction and molecular marker technology.
abstract: Wild animals are an integral component of the ecosystem. Their decimation due to abrupt natural calamities or due to gradual human intervention would be disastrous to the ecosystem and would alter the balance in nature between various biotic components. Such an imbalance could have an adverse effect on the ecosystem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to put an end to the ever increasing list of endangered species by undertaking both in situ and ex situ conservation using tools of modern biology, to ascertain the degree of genetic variation and reproductive competence in these animals. This review highlights the development and use of molecular markers such as microsatellites, minisatellites, mitochondrial control region, cytochrome b and MHC loci to assess the genetic variation in various Indian wild animals such as the lion, tiger, leopard and deer. The review also presents data on the semen profile of the big cats of India. Reproductive technologies such as cryopreservation of semen and artificial insemination in big cats are also highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India. shivas@ccmb.res.in
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shivaji
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Kholkute
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaur
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Umapathy
authors.forename: Anju
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Sadanand
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sontakke
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shailaja
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Monika
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sivaram
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jyotsna
authors.forename: Satyare
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bala
authors.forename: M Shakeel
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Aruna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bala
authors.forename: B V N
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Chandrashekar
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Surya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.forename: Lalji
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001709:Biotechnology; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000662:veterinary*; D012099:Reproductive Techniques / Q000662:veterinary*