The Hindu Business Line : DNA method for tiger census

A FUTURISTIC CREATION amidst the rocks is the building housing the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology's LaCONES (Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species) on the outskirts of Hyderabad. It will be inaugurated by the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, soon. - P.V. Sivakumar

Hyderabad , Nov. 20

After helping the sleuths in pinning down the real culprits, deoxyribonucleic acid, more known in its abbreviated form - DNA, is going to play a major role in the future censuses for tigers.

A woman scientist at LaCONES (Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species) has developed a "foolproof method" to differentiate one tiger from the other, as they do with human beings, using DNA.

The soon-to-be inaugurated (awaiting dates from the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) but fully functional laboratory is promoted by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Andhra Pradesh Government.

Announcing the method that is expected to revolutionalise the way they counted the tigers, Dr Lalji Singh, Director of CCMB, said the pilot study conducted by him along with Ms Jyotsna Bhagavatula, a Ph.D. student, used faecal samples to tell the tigers apart.

CURRENT METHODS

The methods in vogue that used pugmarks and camera images had limitations. "The size of pugmarks is based on the base that a tiger walks on. A single tiger could possibly be counted as many," he said.

The painstaking efforts made by Ms Jyotsna resulted in development of methods to isolate the DNA of a particular tiger, notwithstanding the fact that the faecal samples could leave the DNA signatures of the prey the tiger consumed.

The study, which had just been published in the online magazine BMC Genetics, would be sent to the Department of Biotechnology. It is not a costly affair to conduct a tiger census using this method. With Rs 1.5 crore, a tiger census can be carried out in the entire country.

A lab for the wild

The LaCONES, abutting the Nehru Zoological Park, has been set up with the objective of using biotechnology in conservation of endangered animals such as lions, tigers, elephants and vultures. The mandate includes establishment of gene and cell banks, semen analysis, artificial insemination and cloning. Even before its formal inauguration, the laboratory has registered initial successes that include a DNA-based method to identify the sex of birds. It has also produced `Spotty', a baby deer using artificial insemination technique.

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