Abstract
Comparison of genetic diversity indices of heterologous and species-specific microsatellite loci within a species may provide a panel of appropriate markers for genetic studies, but few studies have carried out such comparisons. We examined and compared the genetic characteristics of tiger-specific and heterologous loci in eight captive Bengal tigers. The mean polymorphic information content (PIC) value of the tiger-specific microsatellite loci (n = 15) was 0.447, and the number of alleles was from 2 to 4 per locus. In comparison, the heterologous microsatellite loci (n = 15) had a mean PIC value of 0.539, and the number of alleles per locus was three to five. Our findings indicate that the heterologous markers have a higher frequency (n = 11) of polymorphic microsatellite loci and number of alleles per locus compared with tiger-specific loci. We pooled the highly polymorphic (PIC > 0.5) tiger-specific loci (n = 5) and heterologous microsatellite loci (n = 11) except one and noted a higher mean observed heterozygosity and PIC values of 0.668 and 0.575, respectively, compared with the heterologous and tiger-specific loci taken alone. Using a locus selection criterion of PIC > 0.5, we recommend a combined panel of 16 highly polymorphic loci for genetic studies of the wild population of the Bengal tigers and suggest that either a combination of tiger-specific and heterologous microsatellite primers or heterologous primers be used in genetic studies related to the ecology, biology, socio-biology and behavior of Bengal tigers as >13 loci are needed in such studies. Key words: Bengal tiger, highly polymorphic, tiger-specific, heterologous, microsatellite loci.
Highlights
The tiger (Panthera tigris) once had the widest geographical distribution among cat species, extending from almost10° south of the equator (Bali and Java) to beyond 60° north and through more than100°Abbreviations: simple sequence repeats (SSRs), Simple sequence repeats; Polymerase chain reactions (PCR), polymerase chain reactions; PIC, polymorphic information content.of longitude (Mazak, 1996; Nowell and Jackson, 1996)
Comparison of genetic diversity indices of heterologous and species-specific microsatellite loci within a species may provide a panel of appropriate markers for genetic studies, but few studies have carried out such comparisons
Our findings indicate that the heterologous markers have a higher frequency (n = 11) of polymorphic microsatellite loci and number of alleles per locus compared with tiger-specific loci
Summary
The tiger (Panthera tigris) once had the widest geographical distribution among cat species, extending from almost. In this study, we compare for the first time the genetic characteristics of tiger-specific microsatellite loci (n = 15) developed for the Bengal tiger (Sharma et al, 2008) and Sumatran tiger (Williamson et al, 2002) with those of heterologous microsatellite loci (n = 15) developed for the domestic cat (Menotti-Raymond et al, 1999, 2005) and Asiatic lion (Singh et al, 2002) in captive Bengal tigers using high quality DNA samples. Of these 30 loci, seven are different loci that have so far not been used in other studies on the Bengal tiger. We suggest a combined panel of highly polymorphic tigerspecific and heterologous microsatellite loci for studying different genetic aspects of the wild population of the Bengal tiger
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