Ivory identification by DNA profiling of cytochrome b gene

Abstract

Ivory can be visually identified in its native form as coming from an elephant species; however, determining from which of the three extant elephant species a section of ivory originates is more problematic. We report on a method that will identify and distinguish the protected and endangered elephant species, Elephas maximus or Loxodonta sp. To identify the species of elephant from ivory products, we developed three groups of nested PCR amplifications within the cytochrome b gene that generate amplification products using highly degraded DNA isolated from confiscated ivory samples dating from 1995. DNA from a total of 382 out of 453 ivory samples were successfully isolated and amplified leading to species identification. All sequences were searched against GenBank and found to match with E. maximus and Loxodonta sp. with at least 99% similarity. The samples that were tested came from eight Asian elephants, 14 African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), and 360 African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana). This study demonstrates a high success rate in species identification of ivory by a nested PCR approach within the cytochrome b gene which provides the necessary information for the protection of endangered species conservation.

Egg forensics: An appraisal of DNA sequencing to assist in species identification of illegally smuggled eggs

“…As clearly highlighted in Table 1, there is an obvious deficiency of reference sequences in which all three mtDNA genes (12S, Cytb and COI) are present, both in GenBank and in BOLD for the highly sought after avian species involved in the illegal trade. This disconcerting lack of reference samples for many parrot and cockatoo species may be in part due to the fact that Psittaciformes comprise approximately 359 species [29] compared with other fauna of forensic importance, such as elephant (in regard to the ivory trade), of which there are only a small number of species [41] and [42]. This in itself presents a challenging task of sourcing adequate reference material, with provenance, for each species to build a comprehensive and robust DNA database in which to facilitate the process of DNA species identification.…”

Illegal Trade of Marine Mammal Bone Exposed: Simple Test Identifies Bones of “Mermaid Ivory” or Steller's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas)

“…Palumbi and Cipriano (1998) also identified protected species for sale in Asian markets using mtDNA analyses, including endangered Bryde's whales (Balaenoptera edeni). Lee et al (2009) andVogel et al (1990) used mtDNA to identify sources of ivory and verify samples that were legal to sell. As international trade in elephant products is controlled by CITES, a method for identification of illegal ivory is important.…”

“…As international trade in elephant products is controlled by CITES, a method for identification of illegal ivory is important. Lee et al (2009) used mtDNA to track ivory back to the source population. Vogel et al (1990) also located the environment in which animals lived using mtDNA from ivory.…”

Molecular phylogenetics of an endangered species: the Tamaulipan woodrat (Neotoma angustapalata)

“…Partial sequences of the Cyt b gene have been used to identify animal specimens from samples of hair, blood and skin with high accuracy (Prusak et al 2005;Tsai et al 2007;Lee et al 2009). Therefore, we are confident that the partial Cyt b sequences generated in this study are sufficient to test previous hypotheses of relationships among Neotoma angustapalata and other species of Neotoma.…”