African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12500

Full Length Research Paper

A comparative study of the use of tiger-specific and heterologous microsatellite markers for population genetic studies of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)

Sudhanshu Mishra
  • Sudhanshu Mishra
  • Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, P. O. Box # 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun - 248001, Uttarakhand, India; Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Banasthali Vidyapith- 304022, Rajasthan, India
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Reeta Sharma
  • Reeta Sharma
  • Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, P. O. Box # 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun - 248001, Uttarakhand, India; Population and Conservation Genetics Group, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6, Apartado 14, 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal
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Sujeet Kumar Singh
  • Sujeet Kumar Singh
  • Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, P. O. Box # 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun - 248001, Uttarakhand, India; Department of Biology, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland
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Ashok Kumar Munjal
  • Ashok Kumar Munjal
  • Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Banasthali Vidyapith- 304022, Rajasthan, India; Department of Zoology, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak-484886, Madhya Pradesh, India
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Surendra Prakash Goyal
  • Surendra Prakash Goyal
  • Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, P. O. Box # 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun - 248001, Uttarakhand, India
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  •  Accepted: 03 February 2014
  •  Published: 19 February 2014

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.

Abbreviation

SSRs, Simple sequence repeats; PCR, polymerase chain reactions; PIC, polymorphic information content.

Copyright © 2025 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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