Genomic Assessment of Ancestry and Natural History in a Captive Tiger Living in New York City Projects
Location
HCAS Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University
Start
2-13-2025 10:15 AM
End
2-13-2025 10:30 AM
Type of Presentation
Oral Presentation
Abstract
The world’s free-ranging tiger population, found exclusively in Asia, has dwindled from over 100,000 individuals at the beginning of the 19th century to around 4000 living in the wild today. However the popularity of the species has spawned a sizable captive population of over 12,000 tigers of uncertain ancestry and natural history.
Whole genome sequence-WGS of wild tigers revealed a substantive distinctiveness among six living tiger subspecies allowing for reliable molecular recognition of subspecies. A forensic case involving a pet tiger, named Ming, illegally kept in a housing project in Harlem is reviewed here. Subspecies ancestry of Ming was determined by comparing his WGS (derived from trace DNA from plucked whiskers) to SNP annotation from thee WGS of 35 voucher (pure subspecies) tiger specimens from six living subspecies. Genome-wide structure analyses based on 3,422,109 SNPs and a subset of 6,724 Ancestry-Informative Markers (AIMS) showed that Ming his sister Cheeky had an admixed genetic background from five subspecies: Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti 35 ~ 40%), Bengal tiger (P. t. tigris 17 ~ 23%), Sumatran tiger (P. t. sumatrae 12 ~ 14%), Amur tiger (P. t. altaica ~ 10%), and Malayan tiger (P. t. jacksoni 1 ~ 10%).
The tale of Ming and Cheeky (published inn Journal of Heredity Jan 28, 2025 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esaf003) is a chronicle around a critically endangered species that has suffered from illegal trafficking in a lucrative pet trade at a cost of individual animal cruelty.
Genomic Assessment of Ancestry and Natural History in a Captive Tiger Living in New York City Projects
HCAS Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University
The world’s free-ranging tiger population, found exclusively in Asia, has dwindled from over 100,000 individuals at the beginning of the 19th century to around 4000 living in the wild today. However the popularity of the species has spawned a sizable captive population of over 12,000 tigers of uncertain ancestry and natural history.
Whole genome sequence-WGS of wild tigers revealed a substantive distinctiveness among six living tiger subspecies allowing for reliable molecular recognition of subspecies. A forensic case involving a pet tiger, named Ming, illegally kept in a housing project in Harlem is reviewed here. Subspecies ancestry of Ming was determined by comparing his WGS (derived from trace DNA from plucked whiskers) to SNP annotation from thee WGS of 35 voucher (pure subspecies) tiger specimens from six living subspecies. Genome-wide structure analyses based on 3,422,109 SNPs and a subset of 6,724 Ancestry-Informative Markers (AIMS) showed that Ming his sister Cheeky had an admixed genetic background from five subspecies: Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti 35 ~ 40%), Bengal tiger (P. t. tigris 17 ~ 23%), Sumatran tiger (P. t. sumatrae 12 ~ 14%), Amur tiger (P. t. altaica ~ 10%), and Malayan tiger (P. t. jacksoni 1 ~ 10%).
The tale of Ming and Cheeky (published inn Journal of Heredity Jan 28, 2025 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esaf003) is a chronicle around a critically endangered species that has suffered from illegal trafficking in a lucrative pet trade at a cost of individual animal cruelty.