Wildlife forensic science

Wildlife forensic science is forensic science applied to legal issues involving wildlife.[1] They also deal with conservation and identification of rare species and is a useful tool for non-invasive studies to determine relatedness of the animals in the area allowing them to determine rare and endangered species that are candidates for genetic rescue using things such as the SSCP or Single-Strand Conformational Polymorphism gel electrophoresis technique, microscopy, DNA barcoding, Mitochondrial Microsatellite Analysis and some DNA and Isotope analysis can identify species and individual animals in most cases if they have already been captured .[2] Unlike human identification, animal identification requires determination of its family, genus, and species, and sex in order to individualize the animal, typically through the use of DNA based analyses.[3]

Techniques

Single-Strand Conformational Polymorphism Gel electrophoresis

A simple and sensitive technique used to identify any mutations and also used in the genotyping of animals. The technique uses the method based on the fact that single-stranded DNA has a defined conformation. Any altered conformation due to a single base change in the sequence can cause single-stranded DNA to migrate differently under nondenaturing electrophoresis conditions, so a wild-type and mutant DNA samples display different band patterns.[4]

There are 4 steps to this method:

  1. polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of DNA sequence of interest
  2. denaturation of double-stranded PCR products
  3. cooling of the denatured DNA (single-stranded) to maximize self-annealing
  4. detection of mobility difference of the single-stranded DNAs by electrophoresis under non-denaturing conditions.

DNA and Isotope analysis

DNA analysis is used to help determine the species of an animal they use DNA nucleotide sequencing as a key method and follow it up by comparing sequenced DNA fragments with reference DNA sequences of different species. The similarity or sequence homology between the unknown and reference sequences facilitates to ascertain the species of origin.[5] This technique is used to determine relatedness of a rare species and to also check for any signs of inbreeding depression in the target species to see if it is a candidate for genetic rescue. Isotope analysis is used in this same vein to determine the composition of the habitat that animal resides in.

Mitochondrial Microsatellite Analysis

Mitochondrial microsatellite analysis methods are often performed to individualize[3] the remains of an animal and determine if a species is endangered,[6] or if it was hunted out of season.[7] Mitochondrial DNA reference profiles can be easily be obtained from public databases like the International Nucleotide Sequence Database (INSDC), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), and the Bardode of Life Data System (BOLD or BOLDSystems).[8] Mitochondrial DNA is used due to its high copy number, and the presence of differences in mutation rates among closely related species.[3] The cytochrome c oxidase unit 1 (CO1) region (also known as the DNA barcode region[9]) mutates at a lower rate and is used for higher level taxonomic classifications[3] whereas the control region and cytochrome b are used in distinguishing closer related taxa due to their mutation rate being higher.[3]

DNA Barcoding

DNA barcoding is often used in Wildlife Forensic Science cases to identify an unknown species found at a crime scene.[10] Blood, hair, bone, and other genetic materials are first collected at the scene, then DNA extraction is performed on the samples collected.[11] After that, DNA quantification or PCR is performed to quantify the DNA, then DNA sequencing is performed to sequence the DNA.[11] Lastly, the sequenced DNA is compared to a DNA database for a possible identification of the unknown species.[11] This technique is often used in poaching cases, animal abuse cases, and killing of endangered animals.[12][13]

Microscopy

This technique is when genetic microscopes are used to look down to a single cell it is used to look at recombination also look for mutations in genes it has been used to help identify many deleterious alleles in genes.[14]

Laboratories and organizations

With the initiative of the Society for Wildlife Forensic Science (SWFS), the Scientific Working Group for Wildlife Forensic Sciences (SWGWILD) was formed in 2011.[15] Also, the Wildlife Forensic and Conservation Genetics (WFCG) Cell was formed by merging the Wildlife Forensic and Conservation Genetics Laboratories for strengthening the enforcement of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of India.[16]

Scope

While animals and plants are the victims in the crimes of illegal wildlife trade and animal abuse, society is also affected when those crimes are used to fund illegal drugs, weapons and terrorism. Links between human trafficking, public corruption and illegal fishing have also been reported.[17] The continued development and integration of wildlife forensic science as a field will be critical for successful management of the many significant social and conservation issues related to the illegal wildlife trade and wildlife law enforcement.

See also

References
  1. "Wildlife Forensics Laboratory". Law enforcement division. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  2. Oliveira, R.; Castro, D.; Godinho, R.; Luikart, G.; Alves, P. C. (2010-06-01). "Species identification using a small nuclear gene fragment: application to sympatric wild carnivores from South-western Europe". Conservation Genetics. 11 (3): 1023–1032. doi:10.1007/s10592-009-9947-4. ISSN 1572-9737. S2CID 21422211.
  3. Meiklejohn, Kelly A.; Burnham-Curtis, Mary K.; Straughan, Dyan J.; Giles, Jenny; Moore, M. Katherine (2021-11-01). "Current methods, future directions and considerations of DNA-based taxonomic identification in wildlife forensics". Forensic Science International: Animals and Environments. 1: 100030. doi:10.1016/j.fsiae.2021.100030. ISSN 2666-9374. S2CID 240532028.
  4. Dong, Yanbin; Zhu, Haidong (2005). Single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis: basic principles and routine practice. Methods in Molecular Medicine. Vol. 108. pp. 149–157. doi:10.1385/1-59259-850-1:149. ISBN 1-59259-850-1. ISSN 1543-1894. PMID 16028682.
  5. Sahajpal, Vivek; Mishra, Sudhanshu; Bhandari, Deepika (2021-06-09). Forensic Analysis in Wildlife Crime Cases: Microscopy, DNA Profiling and Isotope Analysis. IntechOpen. ISBN 978-1-83968-951-2.
  6. Sanches, A.; Perez, W. A. M.; Figueiredo, M. G.; Rossini, B. C.; Cervini, M.; Galetti, P. M.; Galetti, M. (2011-01-01). "Wildlife forensic DNA and lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) poaching". Conservation Genetics Resources. 3 (1): 189–193. doi:10.1007/s12686-010-9318-y. ISSN 1877-7260. S2CID 33472385.
  7. Zenke, Petra; Zorkóczy, Orsolya Krisztina; Lehotzky, Pál; Ózsvári, László; Pádár, Zsolt (2022-01-20). "Molecular Sexing and Species Detection of Antlered European Hunting Game for Forensic Purposes". Animals. 12 (3): 246. doi:10.3390/ani12030246. ISSN 2076-2615. PMC 8833381. PMID 35158570.
  8. Moore, M. Katherine; Baker, Barry W.; Bauman, Tasha L.; Burnham-Curtis, Mary K.; Espinoza, Edgard O.; Ferrell, Carolyn S.; Frankham, Greta J.; Frazier, Kim; Giles, Jenny L.; Hawk, Deedra; Rovie-Ryan, Jeffrine J.; Johnson, Rebecca N.; Knott, Trey; Kornfield, Irving L.; Lindquist, Christina (2021-11-01). "The Society for Wildlife Forensic Science standards and guidelines". Forensic Science International: Animals and Environments. 1: 100015. doi:10.1016/j.fsiae.2021.100015.
  9. Cui, Wei; Jin, Xiaoye; Guo, Yuxin; Chen, Chong; Zhang, Wenqing; Wang, Yijie; Lan, Jiangwei; Zhu, Bofeng (2020-09-24). "Development and Validation of a Novel Five-Dye Short Tandem Repeat Panel for Forensic Identification of 11 Species". Frontiers in Genetics. 11: 1005. doi:10.3389/fgene.2020.01005. ISSN 1664-8021. PMC 7541953. PMID 33193588.
  10. Mwale, Monica; Dalton, Desire L.; Jansen, Raymond; De Bruyn, Marli; Pietersen, Darren; Mokgokong, Prudent S.; Kotzé, Antoinette (2017). Steinke, Dirk (ed.). "Forensic application of DNA barcoding for identification of illegally traded African pangolin scales". Genome. 60 (3): 272–284. doi:10.1139/gen-2016-0144. hdl:1807/75671. ISSN 0831-2796. PMID 28177847. S2CID 207093202.
  11. Kress, W. John; Erickson, David L., eds. (2012). DNA Barcodes: Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 858. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press. doi:10.1007/978-1-61779-591-6. ISBN 978-1-61779-590-9. S2CID 3668979.
  12. Dalton, Desiré Lee; de Bruyn, Marli; Thompson, Tia; Kotzé, Antoinette (2020). "Assessing the utility of DNA barcoding in wildlife forensic cases involving South African antelope". Forensic Science International: Reports. 2: 100071. doi:10.1016/j.fsir.2020.100071. S2CID 213926390.
  13. Khan, Fida Muhammad; William, Kainaat; Aruge, Samreen; Janjua, Safia; Shah, Safdar Ali (2018-03-04). "Illegal product manufacturing and exportation from Pakistan: Revealing the factuality of highly processed wildlife skin samples via DNA mini-barcoding". Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids. 37 (3): 179–185. doi:10.1080/15257770.2018.1450507. ISSN 1525-7770. PMID 29608392. S2CID 4623232.
  14. Smaglik, Paul (May 2017). "The genetic microscope". Nature. 545 (7654): S25–S27. doi:10.1038/545S25a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 28514433. S2CID 4472535.
  15. "About SWGWILD". Society for Wildlife Forensic Science. 14 January 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  16. "Wildlife Forensic & Conservation Genetics Cell". wii.gov.in. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  17. US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 2009. Trafficking and extortion of Burmese migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand: a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate. Washington, DC

Further reading
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