Optimizing DNA Analyses of Pangolin Products from the Trade for Species Identification in Vietnam
Main Article Content
Abstract
To support law enforcement related to illegal wildlife trafficking in Vietnam, DNA analyses have been widely used to identify species based on products seized from the trade. Pangolins are one of the most threatened mammal groups in Vietnam and across the world because they have been trafficked in huge numbers and considered the most traded mammals globally. Although the government and management agencies have implemented several deterrent measures to reduce the illicit trade of pangolins, a high number of violations with large seizures have still been detected in recent years in the country. Species identification of pangolin products is often challenging, as many products don’t have sufficient morphological diagnoses, especially their meat, hair, and scale. In this study, we present a protocol, which can be applied in laboratories in Vietnam, for extracting and amplifying a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (COI) from pangolin’s scales and hairs. This protocol was successfully employed to generate a fragment the COI gene from 10 confiscated pangolin samples. The results show for the first time that three samples originated from an African pangolin species and highlight the importance of applying molecular approaches to combating wildlife trafficking in Vietnam.
Keywords:
Pangolin, wildlife trade, forensics, DNA barcoding, wildlife product.
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(accessed on: March 06th, 2020).
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(accessed on: March 06th, 2020).
[9] D. Pietersen, C. Moumbolou, D. J. Ingram, D. Soewu, R. Jansen, O. Sodeinde, C. Keboy Mov Linkey Iflankoy, D. Challender, M. H. Shirley, Phataginus tricuspis, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2019, https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T12767A123586469.en, (accessed on: March 06th, 2020).
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[18] H. Zhang, M. P. Miller, F. Yang, H. K. Chan, P. Gaubert, G. Ades, G. A. Fischer, Molecular Tracing of Confiscated Pangolin Scales for Conservation and Illegal Trade Monitoring in Southeast Asia, Global Ecology and Conservation, Vol. 4, 2015, pp. 414-422, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2015.08.002.
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[22] United Nations Environment Programme,
Wildlife Crime: Pangolin Trade Still Flourishing Despite Ban, https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story /wildlife-crime-pangolin-trade-still-flourishing-despite-ban/, 2018 (accessed on: April 12th, 2020).
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the_Trafficking_of_Pangolin_Scales_2015-2019-Update1.pdf/, 2020 (accessed on: April 12th, 2020).
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[29] F. Ronquist, M. Teslenko, P. van der Mark, D. L. Ayres, A. Darling, S. Höhna, B. Larget, L. Liu, M. A. Suchard, J. P. Huelsenbeck, MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space, Systematic Biology, Vol. 61, No. 3, 2012, pp. 539-542, https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/sys029
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