The Role of Subspecies in the Field of Tiger Conservation
1. The Role of Subspecies in
the Field of Big Cat
Conservation
Courtney Dunn
Graduate Student
University of
Central Arkansas
2. Luo S-J, Kim J-H, Johnson WE, Walt Jvd, Martenson J, et al. (2004)
Phylogeography and Genetic Ancestry of Tigers (Panthera tigris).
PLoS Biol 2(12): e442.
3. A Disappearing Species
▪ Over a 90% decrease in
population in just a
century
▪ 3,200 individuals remain
in the wild
6. What is a subspecies?
▪ “ populations below the species level that share a
distinct geographic distribution, a group of
phylogenetically concordant characters, and a
unique natural history relative to other subdivisions
of the species.”
Avise and Ball (1990) and O'Brien and Mayr (1991),
13. The Problem with Subspecies
▪ Historically determined by morphological
characteristics (Mazak 1981; Herrington
1987)
▪ Few specimens documented officially
▪ Previous studies have revealed little
genetic variation (Wentzel et al. 1999)
▪ Few to no geographical boundaries
between subspecies (Kitchener and
Dugmore 2000)
▪ Is it all human caused?
14. Save the species or focus on most critical
subspecies?
▪ A Recent ecology-based approach suggests protection of 160
continuous habitat patches (Dinerstein, et al. 1997)
▪ Reintroduction programs have been discussed (Tilson, et al. 2001)
▪ Zoos focus on subspecies level breeding programs
“To this end, an assessment of population genetic structure of living tigers
interpreted in the context of traditional intraspecific taxonomy and the species'
evolutionary history would benefit both in situ and ex situ conservation
management design.”
15. Assessing Past Difficulties
▪ Low “voucher specimen” availability
▪ Pseudogene insertion of cytoplasmic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
known as Numt
▪ Overall scarcity of genetic diversity in tigers
16. Experimental Set-Up
▪ 134 tigers of known geographical location
▪ Analyzed for three genetic markers
▪ “4 kb of mtDNA sequence derived from primer
pairs that excluded Numt amplification
▪ Allele variation in the major histocompatibility
complex (MHC) DRB
▪ Allele size variation of 30 hypervariable short
tandem repeat loci or microsatellites.”
(Shu-Jin Luo, et al. 2004)
WCS Russia – SiberianTiger Project
19. DNA Isolation Process
▪ Genomic DNA (Sambrook et al.
1989).
▪ Isolated via a standard proteinanse K
digestion
▪ Phenol-chloroform extraction
▪ Dry Skin and Hair Samples (Boom et
al. 1990) (Hoss and Paabo 1993).
▪ Guanidine thiocyanate
▪ Silica-based purificationWCS Russia – SiberianTiger Project
20. Mitochondrial DNA Analysis
▪ Complicated by the presence of
a large 12.8 kb nuclear mtDNA
fragment in proximity to
chromosome F2 in an ancestral
Panthera species (3 million years
ago).
▪ 15 Cymt-specific primer sets
which had sequence differences
from Numt and the 12.8 kb
nuclear mtDNA were chosen.
21. Table 1. PCR Primers Specific for Cytoplasmic
Mitochondrial DNA Sequences
22. Microsatellite Analysis
▪ 30 microsatellite loci analyzed for the domestic cat
were amplified by PCR using fluorescent markers.
▪ 113 of the total 134 tigers were used in this analysis
23. Phylogenetic Analysis of mtDNA and
Microsatellites
▪ 54 variable sites were specified which defined 25
haplotypes
▪ 30 polymorphisms were phylogenetically
informative due to being observed in more than one
individual
24. Table 2. Haplotypes andVariable Sites in Combined Analysis of 4,078 bp ofTiger (P.tigris) mtDNA Sequences
25. Phylogenetic Analysis of mtDNA and
Microsatellites
▪ Phylogenetic analysis consisted of –
▪ Maxiumum parsimony (MP)
▪ Minimum evolution (ME)
▪ Maximum likelihood (ML)
▪ P. t. sumatrae 80% MP, 70% ME, 66% ML
▪ P. t. tigris 93% MP, 82% ME, 90% ML
▪ Asian Haplotypes grouped together
▪ P. t. altaica, P. t. corbetti, and P. t. jacksoni
Figure 3a. Phylogenetic Relationships amongTigers from mtDNA Haplotypes
27. Figure 4. Phylogenetic Relationships among the Individual Tigers from
Composite Microsatellite Genotypes of 30 Loci
28. Table 2. Haplotypes and Variable Sites in Combined Analysis of 4,078
bp of Tiger (P.tigris) mtDNA Sequences
29. Population Subdivision Analysis
▪ Evaluated four different geographic scenarios and compared on the
basis of molecular variance (AMOVA)
▪ Fst defined as the total variation that is related to genetic differences
between populations.
Table 4. Measures of Geographic Subdivision Based on AMOVA with MtDNA and Microsatellite Data
30. Figure S2. Bayesian Population Structure
Analysis of 111 Tigers
▪ Each individual is represented by a vertical bar.
32. Discussion
▪ Data reflect the distinction of at least five unique subspecies with the
possibility of a sixth (later confirmed)
▪ Separation of the tiger species into subspecies reflects strong
geographical partitioning of the mitochondrial lineages
▪ Adaptation to rapidly changing habitats and genetic drift may have
resulted in isolated populations during the Holocene (Lister 2004)
▪ Groupings of the Amur, South China, and IndochineseTigers could be
due to the recent extinction of intermediate subspecies
One ecology-based conservation approach emphasizes protection of about 160 continuous habitat patches or tiger conservation units regardless of subspecies designation (Dinerstein et al. 1997). Although this strategy may be desirable, optimal tiger conservation may also require additional interventions such as establishing corridors and buffer zones and/or implementing reintroduction programs (Tilson et al. 2001).
One ecology-based conservation approach emphasizes protection of about 160 continuous habitat patches or tiger conservation units regardless of subspecies designation (Dinerstein et al. 1997). Although this strategy may be desirable, optimal tiger conservation may also require additional interventions such as establishing corridors and buffer zones and/or implementing reintroduction programs (Tilson et al. 2001).
Universal mammalian primer sets just don’t work well with Numt – because it gets replicated too
(defined as individuals that were verified as wild-born from a specific geographic locale or captive-born from geographically verified wild-born parents).“necessary to sequence a large portion of the mtDNA genome and to assess genetic variation in multiple rapidly evolving microsatellite loci.”
Lopez et al. 1994; Johnson et al. 1996; Cracraft et al. 1998; J. H. Kim, A. Antunes, S.-J. Luo, J. Menninger, W. G. Nash, et al., personal communication
homologous Numt sequence (outer, dashed line)
primer sets spanning 6,026 bp of mtDNA were designed and screened for polymorphism in tigers (inner, solid line)
Diamonds indicate polymorphic mtDNA segments
brackets indicate monomorphic mtDNA segments among tigers that were excluded from phylogenetic analysis.
Two loci (FCA391 and FCA441) were tetranucleotide repeats, and the others were dinucleotides. All loci have been mapped in the domestic cat and located on 11 of the 19 chromosomes
Corbetti and amoyensis - likely indicate that the maternal (mitochondrial) lineages of these tigers derived from individuals from the P. t. corbetti I phylogenetic lineages
A statistical parsimony network of the tiger mtDNA sequences provided additional analytical support for the differentiation of P. t. sumatrae, P. t. tigris, P. t. altaica, P. t. corbetti I, P. t. corbetti II, and P. t. amoyensis (AMO1 only)
Groups close together reflect geographical relationships
Tigers from Sumatra(P. t. sumatrae) formed a monophyletic clade with 97% bootstrap support, and Amur tigers (P. t. altaica) grouped with 76% bootstrap support. The remaining tiger genotypes partitioned into two weakly supported monophyletic lineages (Indian Subcontinent P. t. tigris and Malayan Peninsula P. t. corbetti II) and a paraphyletic assemblage of northern Indochinese P. t. corbettiI.
that the Isthmus of Kra may serve as a potential geographic barrier (Kitchener 1999), further subdivided classical P. t. corbetti into the northern Indochina region P. t. corbetti I and the Malayan Peninsula P. t. corbetti II, resulting in five groups.