TDK conference 2017

As the White stork is a model species for studies of bird migration and behavior, numerable researches dealing with the genetic material of white stork. Unfortunately the forensic relevance of storks is growing too, more and more poaching cases are reported in Europe, in the Near East and in Africa. The species is not only hunted for food, trophy and sport, but only in Hungary two fatal abuse cases were reported last year.

In one of these cases a decapitated corpse of a White stork was discovered in a plastic bag at a wayside pit. Feathers from the corpse and a bloody swab from the putative scene of abusing were collected for genetic analysis. Because neither nuclear nor mitochondrial genetic variance of the Hungarian White stork population were investigated so far, the main reason of our project was to reveal the genetic diversity with forensically applicable markers.

For the population study 59 feather sample from six Hungarian county were collected from unrelated individuals (from one nestling per nest), with the help of the BirdLife Hungary, the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden and the Bird Hospital in Hortobágy.

For determination the nucleotide variances for the maternal lineages the mitochondrial Control Region (CR) was analyzed with species specific primer pairs. Altogether 16 haplotypes were identified from 15 polymorphic sites based on the investigated, approx. 700 nucleotide long sequence.

For the reason of individual identification we investigated the polymorphisms’ level of the Cc4 microsatellite marker in the Hungarian White stork population. Forensically recommended nomenclature was developed based on the allele sequences of the polymorphic region. Population-statistical analysis using the observed allele frequencies was performed, calculating the heterozygosity (Hobs = 0.89), power of discrimination (PD = 0.98) and the polymorphic information content (PIC = 0.93).

However the requirement of extended set of loci for individual identification is suggested, our results can support the potential use and efficiency of both the hyperpolymorphic Cc4 microsatellite marker and the mitochondrial control region for forensic purposes.