Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

CONSERVATION IMPACT ON MOLECULAR GENETIC CHANGES ON JAVA GREEN PEACOCK (PAVO MUTICUS) THROUGH MITOCHONDRIAL D-LOOP MARKER

E. Bimo Aksono H. and Herry Agoes Hermadi

Abstract

The study of genetic diversity of species Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus) captured from the wild and the conservation-bred in East Java is aimed at investigating the impact of conservation on the molecular genetic changes of Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus). This study utilized samples from 10 (ten) wild Java Green Peacocks (Pavo muticus) from the forest and 6 (six) Java Green Peacocks (Pavo muticus) bred in the conservation in East Java. The materials examined were their feathers (calamus). The technique of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) with D-loop mitochondrial based-designed primer was used to investigate the genetic diversity of species among Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus). PCR products were analyzed using electrophoresis gel 1% . Then they were purified and labelled for data sequencing. The sequencing data obtained were in a form of base order that enabled the analysis of genetic diversity among species (Phylogenetic Analysis) by using a software program from Genetix Mac Ver 10.0. Green Peacock (Afropavo congensis) was used as the reference species with the code DQ 834507. The result showed that the 10 (ten) samples of wild Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus) feathers were genetically different from the Green Peacock reported to the GenBank with code DQ 834507 as well as from the 6 (six) conservation-bred species Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus). Compared to wild Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus) from the forest, the conservation-bred Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus) experienced mutations since the result of phylogenetic analysis indicated that the conservation-bred Java Green Peacock species and the wild ones were not in the same cluster. Thus, peacocks kept in conservation, regardless the sophisticated and modern facilities, may lost their inherited genetic characteristics which in return would eliminate Indonesian superior germs for Java Green Peacock (Pavo muticus) in Indonesia