African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (18), pp. 1588-1593, 18 September 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

The potential of mitochondrial DNA markers and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism for domestic and wild species identification

Malisa, A. L.^1,3*, Gwakisa, P.², Balthazary, S.¹, Wasser, S. K.⁴ and Mutayoba, B. M.¹

¹Department of Veterinary Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3038, Morogoro, Tanzania.

²Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3038, Morogoro, Tanzania.

³Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3038, Morogoro, Tanzania.

⁴Center for Conservation Biology, Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA.

*Corresponding authors: E-mail: malisa56@yahoo.com. Tel. +255 23 2604420. Fax +255 23 2603404.

Accepted 2 June, 2006

Poaching is increasingly presenting challenge to conservational authorities in Africa.xe "Hofer et al., 1996" Accurate and reliable methods for the identification of poached wildlife meat when morphological features are missing, has been lacking in Africa. We describe a molecular based approach that has a potential of serving as a tool for game and domestic meat identification in Africa. A mitochondrial (mt246) marker and Rsa1 restriction enzyme were used in the PCR-RFLP species identification of game and domestic meat. Species-specific reference DNA fragment patterns were obtained using fresh meat from ten major wild herbivores, representing the highly targeted wild meat species in Tanzania and four domesticated animal species. With the exception of the zebra, all species produced unique monomorphic RFLP patterns that were species specific. These reference fragment patterns enabled identification of about 75% of unknown meat samples, demonstrating the ability of the technique in discriminating between and among wild and domestic species. The results provide preliminary promising fingerprints which need further validation for future use for the control of the up-surging bush meat trade in the continent.

Key words: Mitochondrial DNA, PCR-RFLP, poaching, forensic, species identification.