Uncovering the magnitude of African pangolin poaching with extensive nanopore DNA genotyping of seized scales

Uncovering the magnitude of African pangolin poaching with extensive nanopore DNA genotyping of seized scales

© 2023 Nparks and The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. - 1999. - 38(2024), 2 vom: 05. Apr., Seite e14162
1. Verfasser: Yeo, Darren (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Chan, Amy H J, Hiong, Kum Chew, Ong, Jasmine, Ng, Jun Yuan, Lim, Jie Min, Zhang, Wendy, Lim, Sara R, Fernandez, Charlene J, Wong, Anna M-S, Lee, Benjamin P Y-H, Khoo, Max D Y, Cheng, Thaddaeus X W, Lim, Bryan T M, Yeo, Hazelina H T, Tan, Maxine M Q, Sng, Wendy B G, Adam, Shaun S, Ang, Wee Foong, How, Choon Beng, Xie, Renhui, Wasser, Samuel K, Finch, Kristen N, Loo, Adrian H B, Yap, Him Hoo, Leong, Chee Chiew, Er, Kenneth B H
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
Schlagworte:Journal Article African pangolins DNA barcoding MinION conservación conservation código de barras de ADN illegal wildlife trade mercado ilegal de fauna pangolín africano mehr... provenance tracing trazabilidad logística tráfico de especies wildlife trafficking DNA 9007-49-2
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:© 2023 Nparks and The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.
Trade in pangolins is illegal, and yet tons of their scales and products are seized at various ports. These large seizures are challenging to process and comprehensively genotype for upstream provenance tracing and species identification for prosecution. We implemented a scalable DNA barcoding pipeline in which rapid DNA extraction and MinION sequencing were used to genotype a substantial proportion of pangolin scales subsampled from 2 record shipments seized in Singapore in 2019 (37.5 t). We used reference sequences to match the scales to phylogeographical regions of origin. In total, we identified 2346 cytochrome b (cytb) barcodes of white-bellied (Phataginus tricuspis) (from 1091 scales), black-bellied (Phataginus tetradactyla) (227 scales), and giant (Smutsia gigantea) (1028 scales) pangolins. Haplotype diversity was higher for P. tricuspis scales (121 haplotypes, 66 novel) than that for P. tetradactyla (22 haplotypes, 15 novel) and S. gigantea (25 haplotypes, 21 novel) scales. Of the novel haplotypes, 74.2% were likely from western and west-central Africa, suggesting potential resurgence of poaching and newly exploited populations in these regions. Our results illustrate the utility of extensively subsampling large seizures and outline an efficient molecular approach for rapid genetic screening that should be accessible to most forensic laboratories and enforcement agencies
Beschreibung:Date Completed 27.03.2024
Date Revised 20.05.2024
published: Print-Electronic
Citation Status MEDLINE
ISSN:1523-1739
DOI:10.1111/cobi.14162