Abstract:
The Asian elephant. Elephas maximus is a globally threatened species. The elephant in
Sri Lanka. Elephas maximus maximus, is a nominated subspecies of the Asian elephant.
The elephant population in Sri Lanka is currently fragmented and restricted to a few
isolated small jungle habitats. Maintenance of a high degree of genetic diversity within
the population is essential for its future survival.
There were two main objectives in this study. Firstly, as a prerequisite for future
conservation and management measures, this study aimed at assessing the genetic
population structure of the elephant in Sri Lanka with regard to geographic population
structure and levels of genetic variability. The Second objective was, the development
and use of DNA fingerprinting technology for the accurate assignment of paternity of
elephants born in captivity. The establishment of paternity of progeny with certainty is
also of considerable importance since the captive breeding programmes that are
implemented for conservation of elephants depend critically on maintenance of genetic
diversity within captive populations.
Blood samples were collected for DNA extraction from one hundred and twenty seven
Sri Lankan elephants (captive 120; wild 7), one elephant from Thailand and two African
elephants. The genetic variability was analyzed in two mitochondrial genes i.e.
cytochrome b (Cyt b) (n=70) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) (n=67) by
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based amplification of elephant DNA using
universal primers and analysis of DNA sequence data of their PCR products. The
sequence divergence in the above two genes in the Asian elephant in three different
geographical regions (Northern, Mahaweli and Southern) of Sri Lanka, was analyzed in
this study.
Analysis of sequence polymorphisms identified 12 polymorphic sites within the Cyt b
sequence (410 bp) giving rise to 5 mtDNA haplotypes. ND5 sequence data (550 bp)
revealed 9 polymorphic sites and 5 mtDNA haplotypes. A total of 67 elephant samples
were analysed for sequence divergence in both genes, yielding seven distinct ND5-Cyt b
mtDNA haplotypes.
