Australian Wildlife Forensic Services and Ancient DNA Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, South St, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2012 Mar;6(2):268-73. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2011.06.006. Epub 2011 Jul 7.
Psittaciformes (parrots and cockatoos) are charismatic birds, their plumage and capacity for learning make them highly sought after pets. The illegal trade in parrots and cockatoos poses a serious threat to the viability of native populations; in addition, species transported to non-endemic areas may potentially vector disease and genetically 'pollute' local native avifauna. To reduce the logistical difficulties associated with trafficking live birds, smugglers often transport eggs. This creates a problem for authorities in elucidating accurate species identification without the laborious task of incubation and hand rearing until a morphological identification can be made. Here, we use 99 avian eggs seized from carriers coming into and within Australia, as a result of suspected illegal trade. We investigate and evaluate the use of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to accurately identify eggs to family, genus or species level. However, Identification of a species based on percentage mtDNA similarities is difficult without good representations of the inter- and intra-levels of species variation. Based on the available reference database, we were able to identify 52% of the eggs to species level. Of those, 10 species from eight genera were detected, all of which belong to the parrot (Psittacidae) and cockatoo (Cacatuidae) families. Of the remaining 48%, a further 36% of eggs were identified to genus level, and 12% identified to family level using our assignment criteria. Clearly the lack of validated DNA reference sequences is hindering our ability to accurately assign a species identity, and accordingly, we advocate that more attention needs to be paid to establishing validated, multi locus mtDNA reference databases for exotic birds that can both assist in genetic identifications and withstand legal scrutiny.
凤头鹦鹉目（鹦鹉和凤头鹦鹉）的鸟类魅力非凡，其羽毛和学习能力使其成为备受追捧的宠物。鹦鹉和凤头鹦鹉的非法贸易对当地种群的生存能力构成了严重威胁；此外，被运往非原生地区的物种可能会传播疾病，并在基因上“污染”当地的本地鸟类区系。为了减少贩运活禽带来的物流困难，走私者经常运输鸟蛋。这给当局在没有孵化和人工饲养等繁琐任务的情况下，准确鉴定物种身份带来了问题，直到可以进行形态学鉴定。在这里，我们使用了 99 枚从进入澳大利亚和澳大利亚境内的运输者那里查获的鸟类蛋，这些蛋涉嫌非法贸易。我们调查并评估了使用线粒体 DNA（mtDNA）准确鉴定蛋的家族、属或种水平的能力。然而，如果没有物种内和物种间变异的良好代表，基于 mtDNA 相似性百分比确定物种身份是困难的。根据现有的参考数据库，我们能够将 52%的蛋鉴定到种的水平。在这些蛋中，有 10 个来自 8 个属的物种被检测到，它们都属于鹦鹉科（Psittacidae）和凤头鹦鹉科（Cacatuidae）。其余的 48%中，有 36%的蛋进一步鉴定到属的水平，有 12%的蛋鉴定到科的水平，这是使用我们的鉴定标准得出的结果。显然，缺乏经过验证的 DNA 参考序列阻碍了我们准确鉴定物种身份的能力，因此，我们主张需要更多地关注建立经过验证的、多基因座 mtDNA 参考数据库，以协助遗传鉴定并经得起法律审查。
