Singh Chandra S, Gaur Ajay, Sreenivas Ara, Singh Lalji
Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India.
J Forensic Sci. 2012 May;57(3):826-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.02049.x. Epub 2012 Jan 23.
Illegal trade in snake parts has increased enormously. In spite of strict protection under wildlife act, a large number of snakes are being killed ruthlessly in India for venom and skin. Here, an interesting case involving confiscation of crystallized dried snake venom and subsequent DNA-based species identification is reported. The analysis using the universal primers for cytochrome b region of the mitochondrial DNA revealed that the venom was extracted from an Indian cobra (Naja naja). On the basis of this report, the forwarding authority booked a case in the court of law against the accused for illegal hunting of an endangered venomous snake and smuggling of snake venom. This approach thus has immense potential for rapid identification of snake species facing endangerment because of illegal trade. This is also the first report of DNA isolation from dried snake venom for species identification.
蛇类制品的非法贸易激增。尽管有野生动物保护法的严格保护，印度仍有大量蛇类因毒液和蛇皮而被残忍捕杀。在此，报道了一起涉及没收结晶干燥蛇毒及随后基于DNA的物种鉴定的有趣案例。使用线粒体DNA细胞色素b区域通用引物进行的分析表明，该毒液是从印度眼镜蛇（Naja naja）中提取的。基于此报告，转发机构向法院对被告提起诉讼，指控其非法猎捕濒危毒蛇及走私蛇毒。因此，这种方法在快速鉴定因非法贸易而面临濒危的蛇类物种方面具有巨大潜力。这也是从干燥蛇毒中分离DNA用于物种鉴定的首次报道。
