Mitochondrial DNA Variation of the Sumatran Elephant Populations in Sumatera, Indonesia

Genetic analysis of Mitochondrial DNA diversity in Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) was conducted. A 630 bp segment of mitochondrialDNAwas amplified from 105 different Sumatran elephant samples from 5 locations in Sumatera (Bentayan, Sugihan, Bukit Salero Lahat, Seblat, Way Kambas) using a set of primers: MDL3 (5'-CCCACAATTAATGGGCCC- GGAGCG-3') and MDL5 (5'-TTACATGAATTGGCAGCCA-ACCAG- 3'). The objectives of this study were to generate mitochondrialDNAD-loop sequences for all available Sumatran elephant samples and to define haplotypes and nucleotide sequence diversity of the different Sumatran elephant populations. The nucleotide sequence of a total of 105 PCR productswere successfully determined with an average length of 616 bp.However, mitochondrial DNA fragments for this analysis used the first 601 bases. Six different haplotypes (BP, BT, BS, BR, BX and BY) were identified in Sumateran elephant populations. The majority of the sampled individuals carried haplotype BT. BX and BY are most likely novel derived haplotypes. All haplotypes, except for the haplotype BP belong to the Sumatera clade. The haplotypeBXwas derived from the haplotype BT, and the haplotype BYwas derived from the haplotype BS by one transversion, respectively. All the other substitutions identified in this network were transitions. The haplotype BP is widely distributed from Sri Lanka, Sumatera, Peninsular Malay and China. Although reported to be distributed in Sumatera and Peninsular Malay the haplotype BU was not detected among the samples analysed in this study. Genetic distances within populations in Bentayan, Bukit Salero Lahat, Seblat, Sugihan and Way Kambas ranged from 0.0000 - 0003, and the genetic distance between the populations that is 0.0000 - 0.0022. The distance between haplotypes of different Sumatran elephant populations was shown to be low. The diversity of haplotypes and nucleotides in Sumatera Island were low, the highest diversity was found in elephants sampled in the region of Bukit Salero Lahat and the lowest was found in elephants from Bentayan and Sugihan. Overall, the results of analysis of Fu and Li's F*test statistic indicates that the population of Sumatran elephants in Sumatra is -0.78871, which suggests that there is no inbreeding. However, the results are not significant (P> 0:10) and additional studies are required to confirmthis finding. BIOTROPIA, Vol. 19, No. 2. Hal. 92-102