Combating the Illegal Trade in African Elephant Ivory with DNA Forensics

Abstract:  International wildlife crime is burgeoning in this climate of global trade. We contend that the most effective way to contain this illegal trade is to determine where the wildlife is being removed. This allows authorities to direct law enforcement to poaching hot spots, potentially stops trade before the wildlife is actually killed, prevents countries from denying their poaching problems at home, and thwarts trade before it enters into an increasingly complex web of international criminal activity. Forensic tools have been limited in their ability to determine product origin because the information they can provide typically begins only at the point of shipment. DNA assignment analyses can determine product origin, but its use has been limited by the inability to assign samples to locations where reference samples do not exist. We applied new DNA assignment methods that can determine the geographic origin(s) of wildlife products from anywhere within its range. We used these methods to examine the geographic origin(s) of 2 strings of seizures involving large volumes of elephant ivory, 1 string seized in Singapore and Malawi and the other in Hong Kong and Cameroon. These ivory traffickers may comprise 2 of the largest poaching rings in Africa. In both cases all ivory seized in the string had common origins, which indicates that crime syndicates are targeting specific populations for intense exploitation. This result contradicts the dominant belief that dealers are using a decentralized plan of procuring ivory stocks as they became available across Africa. Large quantities of ivory were then moved, in multiple shipments, through an intermediate country prior to shipment to Asia, as a risk-reduction strategy that distances the dealer from the poaching locale. These smuggling strategies could not have been detected by forensic information, which typically begins only at the shipping source.     

Evaluation of DNA damage in the root cells of Allium cepa seeds growing in soil of high background radiation areas of Ramsar – Iran

Plants are unique in their ability to serve as in situ monitors for environmental genotoxins. We have used the alkaline comet assay for detecting induced DNA damage in Allium cepa to estimate the impact of high levels of natural radiation in the soils of inhabited zones of Ramsar. The average specific activity of natural radionuclides measured in the soil samples for ²²⁶Ra was 12,766 Bq kg⁻¹ whereas in the control soils was in the range of 34–60 Bq kg⁻¹. A positive strong significant correlation of the DNA damage in nuclei of the root cells of A. cepa seeds germinated in the soil of high background radiation areas with ²²⁶Ra specific activity of the soil samples was observed. The results showed high genotoxicity of radioactively contaminated soils. Also the linear increase in the DNA damage indicates that activation of repair enzymes is not triggered by exposure to radiation in HBRA.     

The synergistic interaction of Nickel(II) with dna damaging agents

In this report we present several examples in which nickel(II) in combination with DNA damaging agents caused an enhanced or synergistic biological response using several different endpoints. These examples of Ni(II) toxicity represent several approaches designed to understand the genotoxicity of Ni(II) as well as several other metal ions. They are discussed in this report as a partial basis for our hypothesis that Ni(II) may alter the cellular processing of DNA damage at some common point in the pathway for DNA repair of several different agents. In cultured Chinese hamster cells DNA damage by Ni(II) ions was not readily demonstrated by the method of alkaline elution, but pretreatment of cells with Ni(II) before X‐irradiation produced an enhanced amount of strand breaks compared to the amount produced by X‐rays alone. A synergistic enhancement of cell transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells was observed for combined treatments of Ni(II) and benzo(a)pyrene. The nickel enhancement of mutagenesis by ultraviolet light was demonstrated for the bacterial gene gpt stably integrated into the Chinese hamster V79 genome.     

An overview of short‐term tests for the mutagenic and carcinogenic potential of pesticides

Abstract

In the last few years, marked progress has been made in the development of methods for evaluating the mutagenic and carcinogenic potential of pesticide chemicals. The correlation of genetic and related biological activity in short‐term tests with carcinogenic activity in whole animals allows the utilization of short‐term mutagenicity bioassays to prescreen chemicals for effects related to mutation induction and presumptive carcinogenicity. In addition, bioassays now available can measure directly the chemical transformation of normal cells in culture into cells capable of producing tumors when injected into animals.

This paper will review briefly the major types of relevant short‐term tests and will develop a rationale for a phased approach to the evaluation of the mutagenic and carcinogenic potential of environmental chemicals. This approach involves the sequential application of bioassays which are organized into a three‐level matrix emphasizing first detection, then confirmation, and finally hazard assessment. Chemicals demonstrating positive results in the short‐term detection systems and confirmatory bioassays are pursued in higher level whole animal tests. A core battery of tests is proposed to operationally define a negative result. The phased approach should facilitate a cost effective utilization of limited testing resources and provide protection for human health in proportion to the anticipated hazard.

Results obtained in evaluating a series of thirty‐eight pesticide chemicals according to the phased approach are discussed in detail.     

广东省蛭态轮虫物种多样性及其系统发育研究

为了解广东省蛭态轮虫物种多样性,采集广东省不同水陆生境样品98份,记录蛭态轮虫3目4科12属66种（含亚种）.陆生环境中鉴定出蛭态轮虫56种,其中苔藓生境42种、落叶生境40种、地衣生境12种,水生生境蛭态轮虫15种,陆生生境的蛭态轮虫种类明显多于水生生境蛭态轮虫.为验证形态鉴定的准确性,获取蛭态轮虫COⅠ基因序列4属16种37条,种间遗传距离8.59%~23.17%,其中楔足盘网轮虫（Adineta cuneata）和迅捷旋轮虫（Philodina rapida）的COⅠ基因序列为全球首次报道.COI基因序列中腺嘌呤（A）与胸腺嘧啶（T）的总含量（71.2%）远大于鸟嘌呤（G）与胞嘧啶（C）（28.8%）的含量.系统发育树的聚类结果与形态学物种鉴定结果一致;同属形态相近的物种,具有较高的同源性.研究结果表明,形态学鉴定与DNA条形码技术相结合,有助于提高蛭态轮虫种类鉴定的准确性和探究蛭态轮虫各属的发育地位,促进蛭态轮虫物种多样性和生态学研究.