Molecular Characterization and Phylogeny of Panthera pardus (Common Leopard) in Pakistan

The present study was designed to investigate the evolutionary relationship of the Panthera pardus subspecies found in Pakistan by exploring the partial DNA sequences of mitochondnal Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Scat samples of 15 different known leopards were collected from Nathiagah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. After amplification with specific oligos, the amplicons of partial region of COI were subjected to sequencing, and then observed for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) SNPs were observed on three loci of the COI gene as compared to reference sequence of Panthera pardus pardus. The specimens found in Pakistan were found to be closely related to Panthera pardus orientahs (Amur Leopard in South eastern Russia) and Panthera pardus japonensis (North Chinese Leopard), with all of these three speculated to be evolved from Panthera pardus pardus in not-so-far past Our findings are helpful in ascertaining the origin and closeness of leopard sub-species in Pakistan.