Verma Sunil Kumar, Prasad Kasturi, Nagesh Narayan, Sultana Mehar, Singh Lalji
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 500 007, India.
Forensic Sci Int. 2003 Oct 14;137(1):16-20. doi: 10.1016/s0379-0738(03)00277-9.
In this study, we report the findings of a recent case in which the officials of an Indian zoo claimed that an animal, possibly a carnivore, is periodically visiting the zoo from a nearby vast forest area and causing panic in zoo and nearby villages. They collected some elusive faecal material from the vicinity of an herbivore enclosure. Looking to the pugmarks found in that area and faecal matter ceased, the officials could not decide whether it was a lioness, a tiger or a panther. We resolved this mystery by DNA-based analysis of the faecal material, using our recently developed novel universal primers to amplify and sequence a specific fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The findings of the DNA-based analyses were confirmed after few days when the zoo officials trapped the animal of same species as suggested in our report. The potential of our procedure to investigate the cases related to wildlife offence is discussed.
在本研究中，我们报告了近期一个案例的调查结果。在该案例中，一家印度动物园的管理人员声称，有一只动物（可能是食肉动物）定期从附近广阔的森林区域来到动物园，在园内及附近村庄引发恐慌。他们在一个食草动物围栏附近收集了一些难以寻觅的粪便样本。鉴于在该区域发现的爪印以及粪便消失的情况，管理人员无法确定那是一只母狮、老虎还是黑豹。我们通过对粪便样本进行基于DNA的分析解开了这个谜团，使用我们最近开发的新型通用引物来扩增和测序线粒体细胞色素b基因的一个特定片段。基于DNA分析的结果在几天后得到了证实，当时动物园管理人员捕获了与我们报告中所推测的同一物种的动物。我们还讨论了我们的方法在调查野生动物违法行为相关案件中的潜力。
