Panel of polymorphic heterologous microsatellite loci to genotype critically endangered Bengal tiger: a pilot study.
In India, six landscapes and source populations that are important for long-term conservation of Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) have been identified. Except for a few studies, nothing is known regarding the genetic structure and extent of gene flow among most of the tiger populations across India as the majority of them are small, fragmented and isolated. Thus, individual-based relationships are required to understand the species ecology and biology for planning effective conservation and genetics-based individual identification has been widely used. But this needs screening and describing characteristics of microsatellite loci from DNA from good-quality sources so that the required number of loci can be selected and the genotyping error rate minimized. In the studies so far conducted on the Bengal tiger, a very small number of loci (n = 35) have been tested with high-quality source of DNA, and information on locus-specific characteristics is lacking. The use of such characteristics has been strongly recommended in the literature to minimize the error rate and by the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) for forensic purposes. Therefore, we describe for the first time locus-specific genetic and genotyping profile characteristics, crucial for population genetic studies, using high-quality source of DNA of the Bengal tiger. We screened 39 heterologous microsatellite loci (Sumatran tiger, domestic cat, Asiatic lion and snow leopard) in captive individuals (n = 8), of which 21 loci are being reported for the first time in the Bengal tiger, providing an additional choice for selection. The mean relatedness coefficient (R = -0.143) indicates that the selected tigers were unrelated. Thirty-four loci were polymorphic, with the number of alleles ranging from 2 to 7 per locus, and the remaining five loci were monomorphic. Based on the PIC values (> 0.500), and other characteristics, we suggest that 16 loci (3 to 7 alleles) be used for genetic and forensic study purposes. The probabilities of matching genotypes of unrelated individuals (3.692 × 10(-19)) and siblings (4.003 × 10(-6)) are within the values needed for undertaking studies in population genetics, relatedness, sociobiology and forensics.
Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, PO Box #18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248001 Uttarakhand India ; Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Banasthali, 304022 Rajasthan India.
Sudhanshu
S
Mishra
Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, PO Box #18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248001 Uttarakhand India.
Sujeet Kumar
SK
Singh
Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Banasthali, 304022 Rajasthan India ; Department of Zoology, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, 484886 MP India.
Ashok Kumar
AK
Munjal
Department of Biology, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland.
Jouni
J
Aspi
Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, PO Box #18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248001 Uttarakhand India.
Surendra Prakash
SP
Goyal
Bengal tiger; Genotyping panel; Heterologous microsatellite loci; Panthera tigris tigris