A pilot study—genetic diversity and population structure of snow leopards of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, using molecular techniques

PeerJ

article

Samreen Aruge¹  Hafsa Batool¹  Fida M. Khan²  Fakhar-i-Abbas²  Safia Janjua² 

[1] Institute of Natural and Management Sciences;Centre for Bioresource Research

关键词: Population;    Genetics;    Panthera uncia;    Pakistan;    Molecular markers;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.7672

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background The Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges in Pakistan’s northern areas are a natural habitat of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia syn. Uncia uncia) but the ecological studies on this animal are scarce since it is human shy by nature and lives in difficult mountainous tracts. The pilot study is conducted to exploit the genetic diversity and population structure of the snow leopard in this selected natural habitat of the member of the wildcat family in Pakistan. Method About 50 putative scat samples of snow leopard from five localities of Gilgit-Baltistan (Pakistan) along with a control sample of zoo maintained male snow leopard were collected for comparison. Significant quality and quantity of genomic DNA was extracted from scat samples using combined Zhang–phenol–chloroform method and successful amplification of cytochrome c oxidase I gene (190 bp) using mini-barcode primers, seven simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers and Y-linked AMELY gene (200 bp) was done. Results Cytochrome c oxidase I gene sequencing suggested that 33/50 (66%) scat samples were of snow leopard. AMELY primer suggested that out of 33 amplified samples, 21 (63.63%) scats were from male and 12 (36.36%) from female leopards. Through successful amplification of DNA of 25 out of 33 (75.75%) scat samples using SSR markers, a total of 68 alleles on seven SSR loci were identified, showing low heterozygosity, while high gene flow between population. Discussion The low gene flow rate among the population results in low genetic diversity causing decreased diversification. This affects the adaptability to climatic changes, thus ultimately resulting in decreased population size of the species.

【 授权许可】

CC BY