Identification of deer and goat species from skin samples-a DNA barcoding approach

Abstract

DNA barcoding is a technique for characterizing species of organisms using a short DNA sequence from a standard and agreed-upon position in the genome. In the present study, DNA barcoding was used as a technology to differentiate deer and goat species from the skin samples. The samples were collected from different regions of the skin, viz. ear pinna, dorsal abdomen, muzzle and interdigital space of foerelimb of deer brought for post mortem at College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, from Thrissur zoo and forest department and of goat freshly slaughtered in Meat Technology Unit, Mannuthy. Samples were chopped and preserved in ethanol and processed. The mitochondrial sequence of Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit (COI) was deliberated as a barcode marker suited best for species identification of the animals and based on this the samples were identified as Cervus unicolor, Rusa timorensis and Capra hircus. The results recommended that unidentified specimens from wild animals can be recognized competently using DNA sequencebased analysis.

Keywords

• deer
• dna barcoding
• goat
• skin