Assessing subspecies status of leopards ( Panthera pardus ) of northern Pakistan using mitochondrial DNA

• Published in: PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) Vol. 7; p. e7243
• Main Authors: Asad, Muhammad, Martoni, Francesco, Ross, James G, Waseem, Muhammad, Abbas, Fakhar-I-, Paterson, Adrian M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States PeerJ. Ltd 16-07-2019; PeerJ, Inc; PeerJ Inc
• Subjects: Analysis; Asian leopards; Conservation Biology; Distribution; DNA; Endangered & extinct species; Endangered species; Genes; Genetic diversity; Genetic structure; Genetic variation; Genetics; Genomes; Geography; Haplotypes; Mitochondrial DNA; Molecular biology; Morphology; NADH; New haplotype; P. p. fusca; P. p. saxicolor; Panthera pardus; Panthera pardus fusca; Panthera pardus saxicolor; Phylogeny; Population; Studies; Zoology; Pakistan; Baluchistan Pakistan; Islamabad Pakistan; Asia; India; Kashmir India; New haplotype; P. p. fusca; Asian leopards; Genetic variation; P. p. saxicolor; Distribution
• ISSN: 2167-8359; 2167-8359
• DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7243

Despite being classified as critically endangered, little work has been done on leopard protection in Pakistan. Once widely present throughout this region, leopards are now sparsely distributed, and possibly extinct from much of their previously recorded habitat. While leopards show morphological and genetic variation across their species range worldwide, resulting in the classification of nine different subspecies, the leopard genetic structure across Pakistan is unknown, with previous studies including only a very limited sampling. To clarify the genetic status of leopards in Pakistan we investigated the sequence variation in the subunit 5 of the mitochondrial gene NADH from 43 tissue samples and compared it with 238 sequences available from online databases. Phylogenetic analysis clearly separates the Pakistani leopards from the African and Arabian clades, confirming that leopards from Pakistan are members of the Asian clade. Furthermore, we identified two separate subspecies haplotypes within our dataset:
(
 = 23) and
(
 = 12).