Phylogenetic study of Changeable Hawk-eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus) based on cytochrome-c oxydase subunit I (COI) gene as one of the conservation efforts in genetic diversity

Abstract

Abstract The wide distribution and abundance of Changeable Hawk-eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus) across Southeast Asia has prompted several subspecies, namely N. c. cirrhatus, N. c. ceylanensis, N. c. andamanensis, N. c. limnaeetus and N. c. vanheurni. Despite their declining population trend due to anthropogenic threats such as illegal wildlife trading and deforestation, this species is still categorized as least concern. Therefore, in light of determining the management unit for conservation endeavour, and to reveal their phylogenetic relationships within species, a thorough phylogenetic using COI gene as a preliminary research is urgently needed. The main objectives of this study were to obtain COI gene sequences of 5 individuals (4 intermediated phase and 1 dark phase) eagles and to construct their phylogenetic tree. The stages of this research were extraction and quantification of DNA blood cells of Changeable Hawk-eagle, amplification of DNA by applying PCR method using COI gene specific primers, electrophoresis on 0.8% agarose gel and DNA sequencing by First Base Laboratories, Malaysia. The DNA sequence analysis was carried out using a MEGAX software with Neighbour Joining (NJ) method. Based on COI gene sequence, N. cirrhatus forming a species complex which was indicated by a monophyletic clade with smaller branches with different bootstrap values in NJ tree. Therefore, N. cirrhatus is closely related to N. phillippensis. In addition to enrich the genetic data of N. cirrhatus, this paper could be one effort to understand genetic diversity among eagles in the world.