Examining genetic diversity and identifying polymorphic microsatellite markers for noninvasive genetic sampling of the Indochinese leopard ( Panthera pardus delacouri )

Indochinese leopard ( Panthera pardus delacouri ) is one of the least-known leopard subspecies and occurs in mainland South-east Asia. Given the elusive nature, low density, and large movement ranges of leopard, noninvasive genetic sampling may be an effective approach for studying this subspecies. We examined the potential for 18 microsatellite loci to allow reliable identification of noninvasively collected leopard samples based on feces collected in eastern Cambodia. The expected heterozygosity calculated from 5 to 7 leopard individuals ranged from 0.49 to 0.91 with an average of 0.73, showing a high level of genetic diversity. Only the five most informative loci decreased the probability of identity for siblings (P ID-sib ) to less than 0.01, which would be sufficient for abundance estimation. A further increase of the number of loci up to 8–10 decreased the P ID-sib to the level of 0.001-0.0001, which may be useful in cases of parentage analysis or forensic analysis. The microsatellite markers shown in the present study achieved a sufficient level of accuracy for individual identification, and thus, will be useful for examining abundance, genetic structure, or relatedness of the Indochinese leopard in future.