The Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) from Central Asia is believed to be the most ancient species of the genus Capra. In Mongolia, it is distributed in the areas of Mongolian Altai, Gobi-Altai, Dzungaria, Altai, Khan Khuhii, Khoridal Saridag and Ulaan Taiga as well as in the desert and semi-desert steppe zones of Dundgobi and Dornogobi aimags (provinces). In the current study, we investigated the mitochondrial ND5 gene fragments of the Siberian ibex population from different parts of Mongolia. Nine haplotypes, including 6 shared and 3 unique haplotypes were identified among these populations. Furthermore, Tajima’s statistics and Fu’s statistics did not reveal significant positive value across the population, indicating population decline and balancing selection.In the phylogenetic tree by 9 haplotypes, no separated clusters were generated. In addition, nucleotide diversity was 0.015, haplotype diversity was 0.86 and the average number of differences in nucleotides was 8.2 in the overall population. These results suggest that genetic diversity across all the populations was low, while haplotype diversity and the average number of differences in nucleotides were high.

The taxonomic status of the now likely extirpated Korean Peninsula wolf has been extensively debated, with some arguing it represents an independent wolf lineage, Canis coreanus. To investigate the Korean wolf genetic affiliations and their taxonomic implications, we sequenced and analysed the genomes of a historical Korean wolf dated to the beginning of the 20th century, and a captive wolf originally located at the Pyongyang Central Zoo. Our results indicated that the Korean wolf bears similar genetic ancestry to other regional East Asian populations, therefore suggesting it is not a distinct taxonomic lineage. We identified regional patterns of wolf population structure and admixture in East Asia with potential conservation consequences in the Korean Peninsula and on a regional scale. We find the Korean wolf has similar diversity and inbreeding to other East Asian wolves. Finally, we show that, in contrast to the historical sample, the captive wolf is more genetically similar to wolves from the Tibetan Plateau, hence, Korean wolf conservation programs might not benefit from the inclusion of this specimen.

Argali sheep is an ungulate, which inhabits the north, west, south and central regions of Mongolia. There are two major populations (Altai and Gobi) in Mongolia, but their taxonomic classification as subspecies is often disputed among researchers. Furthermore, there is no recent study about the population genetic structure of argali sheep in Mongolia. In the present study, we have investigated genetic diversity and difference between Altai and Gobi argali populations using mitochondrial control region hyper variable segment (HVS) sequence (598bp) and 3 microsatellite markers. Mitochondrial HVS haplotype analysis showed high haplotype diversity (0.982±0.012) and low nucleotide diversity (0.02589). In microsatellite analysis, total of 9 alleles were found across all loci while mean Ho were 0.59±0.13 for Altai and 0.53±0.1 for Gobi populations, indicating low allelic diversity with moderate heterozygosity. Neighbor-joining tree separated haplotypes into two clusters, Altai and Gobi population, implying distinct genetic difference between the two subspecies. Additionally, Pairwise FST and Kimura-2 parameter showed 0.127 and 0.0413±0.0068, respectively. These genetic distance analyses hinted genetic difference between Altai and Gobi populations are in subspecies level. In summary, mitochondrial HVS and microsatellite analysis demonstrated that Altai and Gobi populations had low genetic diversity but might be genetically distinct from each other in subspecies level, suggesting conservation should be separately managed.

The taxonomic status of the now likely extirpated Korean Peninsula wolf has been extensively debated, with some arguing it represents an independent wolf lineage, Canis coreanus. To investigate the Korean wolf's genetic affiliations and taxonomic status, we sequenced and analysed the genomes of a Korean wolf dated to the beginning of the 20th century, and a captive wolf originally from the Pyongyang Central Zoo. Our results indicated that the Korean wolf bears similar genetic ancestry to other regional East Asian populations, therefore suggesting it is not a distinct taxonomic lineage. We identified regional patterns of wolf population structure and admixture in East Asia with potential conservation consequences in the Korean Peninsula and on a regional scale. We find that the Korean wolf has similar genomic diversity and inbreeding to other East Asian wolves. Finally, we show that, in contrast to the historical sample, the captive wolf is genetically more similar to wolves from the Tibetan Plateau; hence, Korean wolf conservation programmes might not benefit from the inclusion of this specimen.

Studying the genetic diversity of Mongolian Argali sheep populations using microsatellite loci requires an accurate and world-standard method than Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Therefore, in this study, we developed a multiplex PCR for 3 high polymorphism loci (BM302, INRA040, BM4505) using fluorescent labeled primers (FAM, HEX, TAMRA), and tested the usability of this methodology to simultaneously amplify the alleles of multiple micro[1]satellite loci in a short amount of time. Using our multiplex PCR method, the alleles of those 3 loci were successfully amplified on a total of 99 samples from the Altai, Gobi, Khangai, and Khoridol Saridag populations, and their allele lengths were determined by the fragment analysis method. General genetic parameters were evaluated to determine the observed length of alleles on each microsatellite locus that was suitable for research. The number of alleles (Na) observed in Altai (15.00), Gobi Desert (16.67), and Khangai (13.33) populations were relatively high, while in the Khoridol Saridag population, it was lower (9.00). The number of effective alleles (Ne) was comparatively low in Altai (6.73), Gobi Desert (8.02), and Khoridol Saridag (4.2) populations, but considerably uniform in the Khangai population (9.94). Moreover, observed (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) was highest in Altai (0.80, 0.84), Gobi (0.74, 0.87), and Khangai (0.85, 0.89) populations. Although the genetic diversity of the BM302, BM4505, and INRA040 loci was high, the majority of the detected alleles had low frequency. In conclusion, multiplex PCR was successfully optimized and the amplified fragments were analyzed which resulted in preliminary population genetic results in a short period. Future research uti[1]lizing this multiplex PCR and fragment analysis methodology should be conducted with more microsatellite markers, leading to precise results concerning the conservation genetics of Argali sheep. Монгол орны аргаль хонины популяцуудын микросателлитын судалгаанд мультиплекс ПГУ ба фрагментийн анализын аргазүйг тогтворжуулан туршсан дүнгээс Монгол орны аргаль хонины генетик олон янз байдлыг микросателлитын локусуудаар судлахад ПААГ-аас илүү өндөр нарийвчлалтай, дэлхийн стандартад нийцсэн фрагмент анализын аргазүйгээр хийх шаардлага тулгарсан. Ингэхдээ олон микросателлитын локусын аллелийг богино хугацаанд олшруулахын тулд бид флуоресценц 3 өөр өнгөтэй (FAM, HEX, TAMRA) бодисоор тэмдэглэсэн праймераар полиморфизм өндөртэй 3 локусыг (BM302, INRA040, BM4505) сонгон мультиплекс ПГУ-ын арга зүй боловсруулж, энэ аргазүйг цаашид ашиглах боломжийг турших зорилгоор энэ судалгааг хийв. Боловсруулсан мултиплекс ПГУ-ын арга зүйг ашиглан Алтай, Говь, Хангай, Хорьдол Сарьдагийн популяцуудын нийт 99 дээжид дээрх 3 локусын аллелиудыг амжилттай олшруулж, аллелийн уртыг тодорхойлсон. Түүнчлэн микросателлитын локус бүрийн аллелиудын урт нь судалгаанд ашиглахад тохиромжтой эсэхийг шалган ерөнхий генетик үзүүлэлтүүдийг тооцоход ажиглагдсан аллелийн тоо Алтай (15.00), Говь (16.67), Хангайн (13.33) популяцад их, Хорьдол Сарьдагийн популяцад харьцангуй бага (9.00) байв. Эффектив аллелийн тоо Алтай (6.73), Говь (8.02), Хорьдол Сарьдагийн (4.2) популяцад хэт бага, Хангайн (9.94) популяцад харьцангуй жигд, хүлээгдэж буй гетерозигот байдал Алтай (0.80, 0.84), Говь (0.74, 0.87), Хангайн (0.85, 0.89) популяцад хамгийн өндөр байв. BM302, BM4505, INRA040 локусуудын генетик олон янз байдал өндөр ч ихэнх аллелиуд нь бага давтамжтай байв. Үүнээс дүгнэхэд, энэхүү боловсруулсан мултиплекс ПГУ амжилттай тогтворжсон бөгөөд олшруулсан бүтээгдэхүүнд фрагмент анализ хийн генетик үзүүлэлтүүдийг тооцож богино хугацаанд популяцийн генетикийн судалгаанд ач холбогдолтой урьдчилсан дүнг гарган авав. Цаашид мултиплекс ПГУ, фрагмент анализийн энэ арга зүйг ашиглан микросателлитын маркеруудын тоог нэмэгдүүлэн судалгааг үргэлжлүүлж аргалийн хамгааллын генетикийн илүү үнэн зөв дүгнэлт гаргах боломжтой гэж үзэв. Түлхүүр үгc: мултиплекс ПГУ тогтворжуулалт, популяцын генетик үзүүлэлт, микросателлит BM302, BM4505, INRA040 локус, аргаль хонь