Species Identification of Biological Samples Derived from Wild Ungulate Species by Forensically Informative Nucleotide Sequencing of Mitochondrial 12S rRNA Gene

Abstract

Authentic identification of wild animal species is warranted to prevent poaching and illegal trade of the wild life. Wild ungulates are one of the most vulnerable species for poaching which necessitates authentic techniques for species identification of biological samples derived from them. In this work, biological samples (tissues or blood) were collected from five available ungulate species viz., black buck (Antilope cervicapra), barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), mouse deer (Moschiola meminna), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) and spotted deer (Axis axis). The DNA was extracted from the samples by following standard protocol and the extracted DNA was subjected to polymerase chain reaction using universal primers targeting mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene which yielded about 450 bp amplicon in all species. Amplicons were sequenced and aligned using bioinformatic tools. Results indicated that the species identification of wild ungulates can be achieved by aligning the nucleotide sequence data with the already available sequences in the gene bank of National Centre for Biotechnology Information which will give the list of species in the order of their similarity (highest to lowest). Highest identity was deduced as the closest species. Observations made in this study endorse the application of Forensically Informative Nucleotide Sequence (FINS) for the forensic detection of biological samples derived from wild ungulate species and hence it holds potential to contribute in the effort to conserve wild ungulate.