Based on the IUCN Red List, Panthera tigris sumatrae or Sumatran Tiger holds the status of Critical (Critically Endangered /CR) species with an estimated population of only 371 individuals in the wild. Illegal hunting and trade are one of the causes that led to population decline drastically. Conventional forensic investigation such as morphological data collection is difficult to do because the sample has been degraded or mixed with other animal body parts. DNA barcode is an actual method that utilizes DNA for species identification based on the gene markers of living things. DNA barcode usually uses a DNA nucleotide sequence of genes that is different between species and almost unchanged in that species. The gene is cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1). Here we report the results of the characterization of the CO1 gene for DNA barcoding from one of the Sumatran tigers with an individual identity called Bonita caught in Riau province and released after being rehabilitated. This research has been able to characterize the CO1 Bonita gene along 435 nucleotides. That length of the nucleotide can be used as a Bonita barcode with the change in the eighth amino acid, Leucine to Proline with the 23rd nucleotide mutation (CTGCCG). CO1 can distinguish individuals in intra-species, which in the eighth amino acid from other Panthera tigris is Leucine. CO1 gene can differentiate between species analyzed in this study with genetic distances greater than 8.3%.
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