Sex identification of birds in Taipei Zoo.

As a conservation and breeding institution for birds, Taipei Zoo plays an important role in restoring endangered species. As approximately half of all bird species are monomorphic, precisely confirming the sex of individuals is critical for the management of ex-situ conservation breeding populations, as well as for understanding the sex ratio of those in the wild. Generally, PCR is used more reliably for sex determination versus traditional methods such as plumage, behavior or hormone levels. Nevertheless, the various primer sets and annealing temperatures vary between species, and so inaccurate sexing can occasionally happen due to inadequate PCR conditions. To reduce the probability of misidentification, and to establish a PCR condition database for sex determination across the diverse range of avian taxa, we tested multiple primer sets and annealing temperatures for amplification of the bird sex-specific gene fragments (CHD1) for each captive or rescued avian species held at Taipei Zoo since 2014. A total of 162 species across 22 orders were tested using one or two primer sets. One hundred and fifty-five species were successfully sexed by the primer set 2550F/2718R and the success rate of sex typing reached over 90% of species tested in each order. Most species have suitable PCR annealing temperatures between 45°C and 55°C, and the species in the same avian taxa showed similar results in temperature. This indicates that it is possible to select the annealing temperature of other species in the same family when the species had not been tested before. We expect this study will improve the success rate of identifying sex by using applicable PCR conditions and reduce the time for searching references every time before attempts to PCR sex birds.

DNA barcoding reveals CITES-listed species among Taiwanese government-seized chelonian specimens.

Compared to traditional morphological identification, DNA barcoding-molecular identification based on sequencing of a segment of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI)-provides a shortcut to authenticating chelonian identifications. Here, we selected 63 government-seized chelonian specimens deposited at Taipei Zoo for DNA barcoding analysis. DNA barcoding and subsequent phylogenetic analysis successfully authenticated 36 chelonian species, including five that are listed in CITES Appendix I. Approximately 90% (57/63) of the specimens were successfully authenticated by our molecular approach, but lack or error of BOLD reference sequences, biological processes such as hybridization, and uncertain species delimitation all reduced the accuracy of DNA barcoding. To increase the accuracy of DNA barcoding, Taipei Zoo will continue to enrich the BOLD database and also establish a genetic database, to include additional genetic markers, by using government-seized chelonian specimens. A fast and accurate method to authenticate seized samples could assist law enforcement agencies to prosecute criminals and restrict illegal exploitation of wild chelonian resources.

Complete mitochondrial genome sequence for the Taiwan Blue Magpie Urocissa caerulea (Passeriformes: Corvidae).

Taiwan Blue Magpie (Urocissa caerulea) is endemic to Taiwan and listed as threatened species protected by law. In this study, we first determined and described the complete mitochondrial genome of Taiwan Blue Magpie. The circle genome is 16,928 bp in length, and contains 13 protein coding, 22 tRNA, two rRNA genes, and one non-coding control region (CR). The overall base composition of the mitochondrial DNA is 30.99% for A, 24.69% for T, 30.07% for C, and 14.25% for G. The percentage of G + C content is 44.32%. This work provides fundamental molecular data which will be useful for evolution and phylogeny studies on Corvidae in the future.