Noninvasive individual identification of the amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) by molecular-genetic methods

Genetic structure of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) population: Are tigers in Sikhote‐Alin and southwest Primorye truly isolated?

“…We used reagents of the kit Diatom DNA Prep 200 (Izogen, Russia) for isolation of DNA from blood and QIAamp DNA Mini Kit for isolation of DNA from hair, and QIAamp Stool Mini Kit (Qiagen, United States) for isolation of DNA from feces. We tested 6 microsatellite loci with primers E7, Fca304, Fca43, E6, E21 and D10, previously used for Bengal tigers (Bhagavatula & Singh 2006;Rozhnov et al 2009), and 7 polymorphic loci with primers hdz57, hdz64, hdz463, hdz700, hdz859, hdz993 and hdz481, used for Amur tigers in the Russian Far East (Henry et al 2009). We also tested 5 loci with primers fca5, fca161, fca91, fca304 and fca211, which are considered useful for subspecies recognition (Luo et al 2008), and 8 loci with 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 primers designed for snow leopard (pun229, pun124, pun935, pun1157, pun894, pun132, pun272 and pun834) (Karmacharya et al 2011;Rozhnov et al 2011).…”

“…Hence, we sought to test the conclusions of Henry et al (2009) that tigers from southwest Primorye represent a subpopulation isolated from the Sikhote-Alin Mountains (including Ussuriskii State Nature Reserve, Udegeyskaya Legenda National Park and Khabarovskii Krai), and whether there truly is genetic isolation between tigers in Southwest Primorye and the nearby Ussuriskii State Nature Reserve. Non-invasive molecular genetic analysis has become a useful tool in studies of wildlife populations because samples (feces, urine and hair) can be easily collected (Ernest et al 2003;Fernando et al 2003;Perez et al 2006;Murphy et al 2007) and combined with tissue or blood samples collected during capture or handling of animals, along with museum specimens Sorokin et al 2005;Sorokin et al 2009). …”

“…This development greatly improves the reliability of abundance assessments, can provide additional insights into many ecological and behavioral parameters (Piggott & Taylor 2003), and can precisely define relationships within family groups (Rozhnov et al 2009), as well as identify animals and their derivatives for forensic purposes (Coomber et al 2007). This development greatly improves the reliability of abundance assessments, can provide additional insights into many ecological and behavioral parameters (Piggott & Taylor 2003), and can precisely define relationships within family groups (Rozhnov et al 2009), as well as identify animals and their derivatives for forensic purposes (Coomber et al 2007).…”

“…Recent developments in molecular technology have considerably extended the capacity of noninvasive samples as a source of DNA for identification of not only species but also individuals and sex. This development greatly improves the reliability of abundance assessments, can provide additional insights into many ecological and behavioral parameters (Piggott & Taylor 2003), and can precisely define relationships within family groups (Rozhnov et al 2009), as well as identify animals and their derivatives for forensic purposes (Coomber et al 2007). However, non-invasive methods do have some drawbacks: they are laborintensive and expensive, and errors can occur due to inadequate DNA preservation.…”

Helminths of Rare Feline Species (Felidae) in Siberia and the Russian Far East

“…The species whose excrements were found was determined by the animal traces near the excrement and by molecular genetic techniques. Samples were classified to a particular species upon receipt of gene fragment sequences of cytochrome b of mitochondrial DNA 36 . Excrements were also taken from the rectum of caught and immobilized tigers.…”