Research of biomaterials collected by members of the CMH

The markhor (Capra falconeri) was first described as a species in 1839 by J.A. Wagner. In 1913, R. Lydekker proposed an intraspecific taxonomy of C. falconeri and identified five subspecies: Suleiman (C. f. jerdoni), Afghan (C. f. megaceros), Kashmir (C. f. cashmiriensis), Gilgit (C. f. falconeri) and Chiltan (C. f. chialtanensis). In 1945 V.I. Tsalkin identified the Uzbek and Tajik markhors as separate subspecies and gave them scientific names - C. f. ognevi and C. f. heptneri, respectively. However, at present, according to D.E. Wilson and D.M. Reader (2005) the broad-horned, straight-horned and Bukhara markhor are considered as subspecies of markhor. They classified Gilgit and Kashmir markhors as wide-horned, Afghan and Suleimanov markhors as straight-horned, and populations from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as Bukhara markhors.

Thanks to the close cooperation between the Mountain Hunters Club and the Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry named after Academician L.K. Ernst, the research aimed at clarification of the taxonomic status of markhor populations from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is currently being conducted. Whole genome genotyping was carried out on 6 samples from Tajikistan (Shurabad and Darvaz regions) and 11 samples from Uzbekistan (Surkhandarya region). As comparison groups, 4 samples of markhor from Pakistan belonging to different subspecies were added to the study: Suleiman (n=2), Kashmir (n=1) and Gilgit or Astor (n=1). More than 5 thousand polymorphic loci distributed throughout the genome have been identified. Using this amount of such genetic markers the structure of markhor populations can be reliably studied.

Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that populations from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed their own clusters (Fig. 1). This indicates that each of these populations has its own genetic identity. It should also be noted that samples from Tajikistan turned out to be phylogenetically closer to Pakistani ones, in comparison with samples from Uzbekistan. Calculation of pairwise genetic distances - FST, showed a high level of differentiation between populations from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - 0.246, which suggests the possibility of considering these groups as different subspecies. When comparing populations from Tajikistan with those from Pakistan, FST values ranged from 0.247 to 0.292. In a similar comparison of the population from Uzbekistan, these indicators ranged from 0.306 to 0.361. Values ranging from 0.193 to 0.246 were observed between markhor populations from Pakistan.

Thus, the ongoing genetic studies have confirmed the hypothesis of V.I. Tsalkin, who considered markhors from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as separate subspecies.


Figure 1. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the studied populations of markhor from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.