Complete mitogenome of asiatic lion resolves phylogenetic status within Panthera

• Published in: BMC genomics Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 572
• Main Authors: Bagatharia, Snehal B, Joshi, Madhvi N, Pandya, Rohan V, Pandit, Aanal S, Patel, Riddhi P, Desai, Shivangi M, Sharma, Anu, Panchal, Omkar, Jasmani, Falguni P, Saxena, Akshay K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 23.08.2013; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Analysis; Animal genetics; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Base Composition; Base Sequence; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Comparative and evolutionary genomics; Conservation biology; Evolution, Molecular; Felidae; Female; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genome, Mitochondrial - genetics; Genomics; Life Sciences; Lions; Microarrays; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Mitochondrial Proteins - genetics; Multigene Family - genetics; Panthera; Panthera - genetics; Panthera leo; Panthera leo persica; Panthera pardus; Phylogeny; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Population stability; Proteomics; Research Article; RNA, Ribosomal - genetics; RNA, Transfer - genetics; Speciation; Transfer RNA; India; Divergence time; Mitogenome; Asiatic lion; Evolution; Panthera leo persica; Phylogeny; Ion torrent; Felidae; Big cats
• ISSN: 1471-2164; 1471-2164
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-14-572

Background The origin, evolution and speciation of the lion, has been subject of interest, debate and study. The present surviving lions of the genus Panthera comprise of eight sub-species inclusive of Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica of India's Gir forest. Except for the Asiatic lion, the other seven subspecies are found in different parts of Africa. There have been different opinions regarding the phylogenetic status of Panthera leo , as well as classifying lions of different geographic regions into subspecies and races. In the present study, mitogenome sequence of P . leo persica deduced, using Ion Torrent PGM to assess phylogeny and evolution which may play an increasingly important role in conservation biology. Results The mtDNA sequence of P . leo persica is 17,057 bp in length with 40.8% GC content. Annotation of mitogenome revealed total 37 genes, including 13 protein coding, 2 rRNA and 22 tRNA. Phylogenetic analysis based on whole mitogenome, suggests Panthera pardus as a neighbouring species to P . leo with species divergence at ~2.96 mya. Conclusion This work presents first report on complete mitogenome of Panthera leo persica . It sheds light on the phylogenetic and evolutionary status within and across Felidae members. The result compared and evaluated with earlier reports of Felidae shows alteration of phylogenetic status and species evolution. This study may provide information on genetic diversity and population stability.