MITOCHONDRIAL ATP6 AND ATP8 GENES BASED MOLECULAR DIVERSITY AND PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS IN PUNJAB URIAL (Ovis vignei punjabiensis)

The taxonomy of wild sheep has been a complex debate with different classifications and revisions suggested based on their morphology, geographical distribution and chromosome number. In Pakistan the Punjab Urial (O. vignei punjabiensis), is an important sub-species of O. vignei however a scarce molecular data is reported that urged us to investigate its genetic diversity and phylogeny using mitochondrial DNA, ATPase6 and ATPase8 genes. A total of 842 bp complete coding region of both genes were amplified by PCR followed by sequencing. The sequences were aligned and edited using CodonCode Aligner and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. The boot strapped Neighbor joining tree constructed from MEGA6.1 explained the genetic relationships of O. v. punjabiensis is with Ovis ammon (Argali) than the Ovis aries (sheep). The phylogenetic analysis also showed the genetic positioning of Punjab Urial with respect to other 23 different reported mammalian species as well. The study gave us useful genomic information about genetic diversity in Punjab Urial and its phylogenetic relationships with related taxa, emphasizing on need of execution of conservation strategies to protect this unique genetic resource of Pakistan.