AI Article Synopsis

  • The Indian cheetah was driven to extinction in the mid-20th century, and genetic analysis confirms it was part of the Asiatic subspecies, although relationships among cheetah populations are not well understood due to limited data.
  • A study involving larger mitochondrial DNA fragments from Indian and African cheetahs revealed that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is older than previously thought.
  • Findings indicate that the Indian cheetah diverged from Southeast African cheetah around 72,000 years ago, and there’s evidence of an unrecognized route of cheetah importation into India from South Africa in the 19th century, which is crucial for conservation efforts and potential reintroduction of cheet

Article Abstract

The Indian cheetah was hunted to extinction by the mid-20th century. While analysis of 139 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has confirmed that the Indian cheetah was part of the Asiatic subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), the detailed relationships between cheetah populations remains unclear due to limited genetic data. We clarify these relationships by studying larger fragments of cheetah mtDNA, both from an Indian cheetah museum specimen and two African cheetah, one modern and one historic, imported into India at different times. Our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is approximately twice as ancient as currently recognised. The Indian and Southeast African (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) cheetah mtDNA diverged approximately 72 kya, while the Southeast and Northeast African (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) cheetah mtDNA diverged around 139 kya. Additionally, the historic African cheetah sampled from India proved to have an A. j. jubatus haplotype, suggesting a hitherto unrecognised South African route of cheetah importation into India in the 19 century. Together, our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between cheetah subspecies, and have important implications for the conservation of A. j. venaticus and potential reintroduction of cheetahs into India.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7067882PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60751-7DOI Listing

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