Tracking the geographical origin of timber by DNA fingerprinting: a study of the endangered species Cinnamomum kanehirae in Taiwan

Abstract

AbstractCinnamomum kanehiraeHay. is endemic in Taiwan and is severely threatened due to intensive utilization and illegal logging. To combat illegal logging, suitable identification markers are needed, which are usable in a court of law, such as microsatellite marker for genotyping. In the present paper, a genetic fingerprinting database was generated based on 15 microsatellites, which are suitable to assess the timber’s origin and its population genetic structure. The quality of DNA extractions fromC. kanehiraetimbers was assessed by comparing cpDNAtrnL–trnF sequence lengths. The cumulative probability of identifying unrelated individuals in these microsatellites was 5.151×10−17. The results indicate that the low genetic diversity is a consequence of illegal logging and that there is a significant genetic differentiation amongC. kanehiraepopulations. It was possible to trace back the geographical origin of unknownC. kanehiraetimbers based on a genetic reference database, i.e. all blind wood samples were assigned to their true geographical origins. Accordingly, microsatellites are a useful tool to identify the population origins of timbers and can be considered as a tool for combating illegal logging ofC. kanehirae.