title: De novo transcriptomic analysis and development of EST-SSR markers in the Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica).
abstract: The Siberian tiger, Panthera tigris altaica, is an endangered species, and much more work is needed to protect this species, which is still vulnerable to extinction. Conservation efforts may be supported by the genetic assessment of wild populations, for which highly specific microsatellite markers are required. However, only a limited amount of genetic sequence data is available for this species. To identify the genes involved in the lung transcriptome and to develop additional simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for the Siberian tiger, we used high-throughput RNA-Seq to characterize the Siberian tiger transcriptome in lung tissue (designated 'PTA-lung') and a pooled tissue sample (designated 'PTA'). Approximately 47.5 % (33,187/69,836) of the lung transcriptome was annotated in four public databases (Nr, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, and COG). The annotated genes formed a potential pool for gene identification in the tiger. An analysis of the genes differentially expressed in the PTA lung, and PTA samples revealed that the tiger may have suffered a series of diseases before death. In total, 1062 non-redundant SSRs were identified in the Siberian tiger transcriptome. Forty-three primer pairs were randomly selected for amplification reactions, and 26 of the 43 pairs were also used to evaluate the levels of genetic polymorphism. Fourteen primer pairs (32.56 %) amplified products that were polymorphic in size in P. tigris altaica. In conclusion, the transcriptome sequences will provide a valuable genomic resource for genetic research, and these new SSR markers comprise a reasonable number of loci for the genetic analysis of wild and captive populations of P. tigris altaica.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150001, China.
authors.forename: Taofeng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: College of Wildlife Resources, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Yujiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150001, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150001, China.
authors.forename: Minghao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Heilongjiang Northeast Tiger Park, Harbin, 150028, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Wildlife Resources, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Jianzhang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors.forename: Yuehui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150001, China. chenhongyan@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China. weijunguan301@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Weijun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D056727:Endangered Species; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D005819:Genetic Markers; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods*; D046010:Tigers / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers
keywords: EST-SSR markers; Panthera tigris altaica; Siberian tiger; Transcriptomic analysis