The Role of Wild Life DNA Forensics in Identification of Endangered Species

Wildlife Forensic science is science that is applied to legal questions involving wildlife crimes. Wildlife forensics contains the molecular biology includes identification by DNA profiling and sequencing. Illegal hunting of wildlife is a serious worldwide concern for wildlife controlling. The ornamental body part and other traditional uses of the body part of wildlife are the major challenge in control of wildlife poaching. There are a developing range of modern DNA approaches that can be used in wildlife crime investigations. DNA profiling is one of the most effective protocols so far in dealing wildlife crime cases, which is the basis for the DNA wildlife forensics. The DNA profiling composed of some basic steps including the DNA extraction, PCR amplification, DNA sequencing and sequence comparison. The genes located on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are the source of most effective molecular marker used in wildlife forensics. Current effort describes the use for DNA profiling for the identification of different wild life species. It includes the types of different techniques and methodology for extraction of DNA from wild animals. Once DNA is recovered from the sample, a number of analytical methods may be applied to determine: - Species of origin, Gender, Single species or multiple species content in mixed sample, Individual identity, Parts matching. The limiting factor in wildlife forensics is lack of strong data base for wildlife. There is a serious need to build the data base for the all range of the wild species. This contains the need of the research and development for strengthening gene bank of the endangered species.