California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Forensics Laboratory, 1415 North Market Blvd. Suite 3, Sacramento, CA 95834, United States.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Office of the General Counsel, 1416 Ninth Street Sacramento, CA 95814, United States.
Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2021 Jul;53:102511. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2021.102511. Epub 2021 Apr 1.
To support efforts in prosecuting wildlife crimes, we developed and validated a multiplex High-Resolution Melt (M-HRM) assay for the identification of proboscidean taxa commonly required to be identified or excluded in ivory seizures and forensic casework: Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), African elephant (Loxodonta spp.), mammoth (Mammuthus spp.), and mastodon (Mammut spp.). Five hundred and fifty (550) blood, tissue, and ivory samples from individuals of these 4 proboscidean taxa were used to develop and validate the 2 proboscidean-specific mitochondrial sites targeted by this assay. The 28-basepair (bp) 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and 54-bp cytochrome b (Cytb) gene segments yield a combination of melt peaks that create composite melt profiles unique to each of the 4 proboscidean taxa. Wildlife forensic laboratories can use this sensitive, rapid, and cost-effective assay to assist efforts to combat the unlawful commercialization of proboscidean ivory and to stop the poaching crisis leading to the decline of these ivory-bearing species in the wild.
为了支持打击野生动植物犯罪的工作，我们开发并验证了一种多重高分辨率熔解（M-HRM）分析方法，用于鉴定象牙缴获和法医工作中通常需要识别或排除的常见长鼻目分类群：亚洲象（Elephas maximus）、非洲象（Loxodonta spp.）、猛犸象（Mammuthus spp.）和乳齿象（Mammut spp.）。该分析方法针对 2 个长鼻目特有的线粒体靶位，使用来自这 4 个长鼻目分类群个体的 550 份血液、组织和象牙样本进行了开发和验证。28 个碱基对（bp）的 16S 核糖体 RNA（rRNA）和 54-bp 细胞色素 b（Cytb）基因片段产生的熔解峰组合，形成了每个长鼻目分类群特有的复合熔解曲线。野生动物法医学实验室可以使用这种灵敏、快速且具有成本效益的分析方法，协助打击非法商业化的长鼻目象牙，并阻止导致这些产象牙物种在野外数量减少的偷猎危机。
