Domestic cat hybrid identification using diagnostic molecular methods

Abstract

Every country has legislations at the national level specifically prohibiting or restricting the private possession of wild animals and their hybrids, by regulating certain species; a family or subfamily that animal belongs to; or rare or endangered species. As wildcat populations are foremost threatened by hybridization with the domestic cat. In Lithuania, private persons are prohibited from possessing protected wildlife, including members of Felidae family wild cats, except where the person owned such animal before the current wildlife protection law became effective in 2018. As the increasing awareness of wild-hybrids has led to a renewed interest in rapid diagnostic assays. During this research a suspected Asian Leopard Cat (ALC-Felis bengalensis) hybrid was tested to identify the lineage. Molecular identification characterized by PCR and sequence analysis of the ATP-8 mitochondrial gene. After comparing the obtained gene sequence variants of the ATP-8 gene fragment in the studied cat with the foreign sequences published in the Gene Bank between the domestic cat Felis catus and the Afroasis Felis silvestris, Felis libyca, we obtained genetic changes. The relative percentage of sequence changes was 1/3 between the tested cat and the domestic cat F. catus and the Afroasis F. silvestris, F. libyca, allowing the identification of the test object as a second-generation hybrid of Afroasis cat.