Cytochrome b gene for species identification of the conservation animals

A partial DNA sequence of cytochrome b gene was used to identify the remain s of endangered animals and species endemic to Taiwan. The conservation of animals species included in this study were: the formosan gem-faced civets, leopard cats, tigers. clouded leopards, lion, formosan muntjacs. formosan sika deers. formosan sambars. formosan serows, water buffalo, formosan pang olins and formosan macaques. The control species used included domestic cat s. domestic dogs, domestic sheeps. domestic cattles. domestic pigs and huma ns. Heteroplasmy was detected in the formosan macaque, domestic pig and dom estic cats. The frequencies of heteroplasmy in these animals were about 0.2 5% (1 in 402 bp). Sequences were aligned by Pileup program of GCG computer package, and the phylogenetic tree was constructed by the neighbor-joining method. The results of sequence comparison showed that the percentage range of sequence diversity in the same species was front 0.25 to 2.74%. and tha t between the different species was from 5.97 to 34.83%. The results of phy logenetic analysis showed that the genetic distance between the different s pecies was from 6.33 to 40.59. Animals of the same species, both the endang ered animal species and domestic animals, were clustered together in the ne ighbor-joining tree. Three unknown samples of animal remains were identifie d by this system. The partial sequence of cytochrome b gene adopted in this study proved to be usable for animal identification. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sci ence Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.