ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

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In a first, IISER completes genome sequencing of wild tiger

Bhopal: For the first time, the genome sequencing of a wild tiger has been completed in the country. An IISER-Bhopal team has completed genome and transcriptome sequencing and analysis of a wild tiger for the first time in the country. Sequencing was done from the sample of a man-eater tiger, Bandhu, who was brought at Van Vihar two years ago. Genome sequencing is a way to figure out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome.


Their study was also recently published in international journal 'Nature Scientific Reports 2019'. The associate professor, department of biological sciences, Vineet K. Sharma, said the genomic studies on this highly endangered species are much needed since its population has rapidly declined in the past due to human interventions.

He said that tiger is the largest feild species and has diverse morphological and behavioural adaptations required for its survival and predation. “To study the genetic basis of such adaptations in tiger, our group generated the first genomic sequence of an Indian tiger,” said Sharma. “As we have done it now, further studies will be possible within country itself,” he added.



“An understanding of the genetic basis of its phenotypic adaptations may help in designing more effective strategies for conservation and breeding of tiger,,” said associate professor, Sharma. Other members of the team were Parul Mittal, Shubham K Jaiswal, Nagarjun Vijay and Rituja Saxena.





Sharma claimed that they have even found the correct genome sequencing in their study. “The tiger genome had been sequenced earlier by a Chinese group, but we noted that the genome assembly (PanTig1.0) consisted of several erroneous nucleotide substitutions, and thus it was giving wrong information. We have now corrected the study,” said Sharma.



He added that usage of the earlier assembly led to several incorrect results in previous studies. “We developed an assembly error correction tool ‘SeqBug’, and corrected almost one million bases in the tiger genome assembly, which map to 4,472 genes,” said Sharma.


The team deciphered the genetic basis of the evolution of tiger's lineage using the corrected genome which were further validated by the re-sequenced genome and transcriptome of the tiger. Reply