Linacre Adrian, Tobe Shanan S
South Australia Justice Chair in Forensic Science, School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Investig Genet. 2011 Jan 13;2(1):2. doi: 10.1186/2041-2223-2-2.
The extent of wildlife crime is unknown but it is on the increase and has observable effects with the dramatic decline in many species of flora and fauna. The growing awareness of this area of criminal activity is reflected in the increase in research papers on animal DNA testing, either for the identification of species or for the genetic linkage of a sample to a particular organism. This review focuses on the use of species testing in wildlife crime investigations. Species identification relies primarily on genetic loci within the mitochondrial genome; focusing on the cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase 1 genes. The use of cytochrome b gained early prominence in species identification through its use in taxonomic and phylogenetic studies, while the gene sequence for cytochrome oxidase was adopted by the Barcode for Life research group. This review compares how these two loci are used in species identification with respect to wildlife crime investigations. As more forensic science laboratories undertake work in the wildlife area, it is important that the quality of work is of the highest standard and that the conclusions reached are based on scientific principles. A key issue in reporting on the identification of a particular species is a knowledge of both the intraspecies variation and the possible overlap of sequence variation from one species to that of a closely related species. Recent data showing this degree of genetic separation in mammalian species will allow greater confidence when preparing a report on an alleged event where the identification of the species is of prime importance. The aim of this review is to illustrate aspects of species testing in wildlife forensic science and to explain how a knowledge of genetic variation at the genus and species level can aid in the reporting of results.
野生动物犯罪的程度尚不清楚，但呈上升趋势，且已产生明显影响，许多动植物物种数量急剧下降。对这一犯罪活动领域认识的不断提高，体现在关于动物DNA检测的研究论文数量增加上，这些检测要么用于物种鉴定，要么用于将样本与特定生物体进行基因关联。本综述重点关注物种检测在野生动物犯罪调查中的应用。物种鉴定主要依赖线粒体基因组中的基因座；重点关注细胞色素b和细胞色素氧化酶1基因。细胞色素b通过在分类学和系统发育研究中的应用，在物种鉴定中早期就受到关注，而细胞色素氧化酶的基因序列则被生命条形码研究小组采用。本综述比较了在野生动物犯罪调查中，这两个基因座在物种鉴定中的应用方式。随着越来越多的法医学实验室开展野生动物领域的工作，确保工作质量达到最高标准并使得出的结论基于科学原则非常重要。报告特定物种鉴定情况时的一个关键问题是，既要了解种内变异，也要了解一个物种与近缘物种序列变异可能存在的重叠情况。近期显示哺乳动物物种间这种基因分离程度的数据，将使在撰写关于物种鉴定至关重要的涉嫌事件报告时更有信心。本综述的目的是阐述野生动物法医科学中物种检测的各个方面，并解释了解属和种水平的基因变异如何有助于结果报告。
