Mitochondrial DNA analysis of critically endangered Chinese Pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) from Nepal

Sandeep Shrestha; Ashish Bashyal; Ashna Dhakal; Thomas J McGreevy Jr; Bill Buffum; Jyoti Joshi; Hemanta Kumari Chaudhary; Sanjay Nath Khanal

doi:10.1080/23802359.2020.1811174

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of critically endangered Chinese Pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) from Nepal

Mitochondrial DNA B Resour. 2020 Aug 31;5(3):3257-3261. doi: 10.1080/23802359.2020.1811174.

Authors

Sandeep Shrestha¹, Ashish Bashyal², Ashna Dhakal³, Thomas J McGreevy Jr⁴, Bill Buffum⁴, Jyoti Joshi⁵, Hemanta Kumari Chaudhary⁵, Sanjay Nath Khanal¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kathmandu University, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.
² Biodiversity Conservancy Nepal, Butwal, Nepal.
³ Department of Biotechnology, Kathmandu University, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.
⁴ Department of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA.
⁵ Center for Molecular Dynamics, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Abstract

Chinese Pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) are Critically Endangered and one of the most illegally traded mammals globally. We generated first COI sequences from five individuals of this species from Nepal. BLASTn search of our 600 bp sequences at GenBank showed pair-wise identity between 99.17% and 100% to M. pentadactyla. There were three haplotypes and a total of five variable sites among five M. pentadactyla sequences. Neighbor-joining tree revealed that all M. pentadactyla from Nepal clustered into same group further splitting into two sub-groups albeit with low bootstrap value, suggesting potential multiple geographic origins. The K2P distance was 0.3% within group and 0.7% between four sequences from Bhaktapur and Kavrepalanchok districts (Mape2, Mape3, Mape5 and Mape6) and museum sample (Mape10). This study has generated reference samples for M. pentadactyla from Nepal and will be helpful in understanding dynamics of illegal trade of this species and in successful identification of M. pentadactyla from Nepal even in the absence of intact specimens.

Keywords: COI; DNA barcode; Pangolin; illegal trade.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Russell E Train Education of Nature Program (EFN), World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), USA and the University Grant Commission (UGC), Nepal.