Phylogenetic study of extirpated Korean leopard using mitochondrial DNA from an old skin specimen in South Korea

Jee Yun Hyun; Jang Hyuk Cho; Puneet Pandey; Mi-Sook Min; Kyung Seok Kim; Hang Lee

doi:10.7717/peerj.8900

Phylogenetic study of extirpated Korean leopard using mitochondrial DNA from an old skin specimen in South Korea

PeerJ. 2020 May 12:8:e8900. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8900. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jee Yun Hyun^{1

2}, Jang Hyuk Cho², Puneet Pandey^{2

3}, Mi-Sook Min¹, Kyung Seok Kim⁴, Hang Lee^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Conservation Genome Resource Bank for Korean Wildlife (CGRB), Research Institute for Veterinary Science and College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
² Tiger and Leopard Conservation Fund in Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ Amity Institute of Forestry and Wildlife, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, India.
⁴ Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.

Abstract

The leopard, Panthera pardus, is a threatened species in its range throughout the world. Although, historically, the Korean Peninsula had a high population density of leopards, they were extirpated from South Korea by 1970, leaving almost no genetic specimens. Traditionally, Korean leopards are classified as Panthera pardus orientalis; however, their classification is based only on locality and morphology. Therefore, there is a need for genetic studies to identify the phylogenetic status of Korean leopards at the subspecies level. Presently, no extant wild specimen is available from South Korea; therefore, we extracted genetic material from the old skin of a leopard captured in Jirisan, South Korea in the 1930s and conducted the first phylogenetic study of the South Korean leopard. A total of 726 bp of mitochondrial DNA, including segments of the NADH5 and control region, were amplified by PCR. A phylogenetic analysis of the fragment, along with sequences of nine leopard subspecies from GenBank revealed that the extinct South Korean leopard belonged to the Asian leopard group and in the same clade as the Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis). Thus, the leopard that inhabited South Korea in the past was of the same subspecies as the Amur leopard population currently inhabiting the transboundary region of Russia, China, and North Korea. These results emphasize the importance of conserving the endangered wild Amur leopard population (estimated to be about 60-80 individuals) in Russia and China, for future restoration of leopards in the Korean Peninsula.

Keywords: Korean leopard; Mitochondrial DNA; Old skin; Panthera pardus orientalis; South Korea.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the SNU Brain Fusion Program of the Seoul National University under Grant number 2014/550-20140052. This study was partially supported by the Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.