
@article {161128,
	title = {Exceedingly low genetic diversity in snow leopards due to persistently small population size.},
	journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A},
	volume = {122},
	year = {2025},
	month = {2025 Oct 14},
	pages = {e2502584122},
	abstract = {<p>Snow leopards () serve as an umbrella species whose conservation benefits their high-elevation Asian habitat. Their numbers are believed to be in decline due to numerous anthropogenic threats; however, their conservation is hindered by numerous knowledge gaps. In particular, the dearth of genetic data, unique among all big cat species, hinders a full understanding of their population structure, historical population size, and current levels of genetic diversity. Here, we use whole-genome sequencing data for 41 snow leopards (37 newly sequenced) to offer insights into these unresolved aspects of snow leopard biology. Among our samples, we find evidence of a primary genetic divide between the northern and southern part of the range around the Dzungarian Basin-as previously identified using landscape models and fecal microsatellite markers-and a secondary divide south of Kyrgyzstan around the Taklamakan Desert. Most noteworthy, we find that snow leopards have the lowest genetic diversity of any big cat species, likely due to a persistently small population size throughout their evolutionary history rather than recent inbreeding. We also find that snow leopards have significantly less highly deleterious homozygous load compared to numerous species, suggesting effective purging during their evolutionary history at small population sizes. Without a large population size or ample standing genetic variation to help buffer them from any forthcoming anthropogenic challenges, snow leopard persistence may be more tenuous than currently appreciated.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Conservation of Natural Resources, Ecosystem, Felidae, Genetic Variation, Microsatellite Repeats, Panthera, Population Density},
	issn = {1091-6490},
	doi = {10.1073/pnas.2502584122},
	author = {Solari, Katherine A and Morgan, Simon and Poyarkov, Andrey D and Weckworth, Byron and Samelius, Gustaf and Sharma, Koustubh and Ostrowski, Stephane and Ramakrishnan, Uma and Kubanychbekov, Zairbek and Kachel, Shannon and Johansson, {\"O}rjan and Lkhagvajav, Purevjav and Hemmingmoore, Heather and Alexandrov, Dmitry Y and Bayaraa, Munkhtsog and Grachev, Alexey and Korablev, Miroslav P and Hernandez-Blanco, Jose A and Munkhtsog, Bariushaa and Rosenbaum, Barry and Rozhnov, Viatcheslav V and Madad Rajabi, Ali and Noori, Hafizullah and Suryawanshi, Kulbhushansingh R and Armstrong, Ellie E and Petrov, Dmitri A}
}
@article {25260,
	title = {Genetic Structure and Phylogeography of the Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) Inferred from Mitochondrial Genomes.},
	journal = {J Hered},
	volume = {108},
	year = {2017},
	month = {2017 06 01},
	pages = {349-360},
	abstract = {<p>The Leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis is a habitat generalist that is widely distributed across Southeast Asia. Based on morphological traits, this species has been subdivided into 12 subspecies. Thus far, there have been few molecular studies investigating intraspecific variation, and those had been limited in geographic scope. For this reason, we aimed to study the genetic structure and evolutionary history of this species across its very large distribution range in Asia. We employed both PCR-based (short mtDNA fragments, 94 samples) and high throughput sequencing based methods (whole mitochondrial genomes, 52 samples) on archival, noninvasively collected and fresh samples to investigate the distribution of intraspecific genetic variation. Our comprehensive sampling coupled with the improved resolution of a mitochondrial genome analyses provided strong support for a deep split between Mainland and Sundaic Leopard cats. Although we identified multiple haplogroups within the species{\textquoteright} distribution, we found no matrilineal evidence for the distinction of 12 subspecies. In the context of Leopard cat biogeography, we cautiously recommend a revision of the Prionailurus bengalensis subspecific taxonomy: namely, a reduction to 4 subspecies (2 mainland and 2 Sundaic forms).</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Asia, Southeastern, Biological Evolution, Cytochromes b, DNA, Mitochondrial, Felidae, Genetic Variation, Genetics, Population, Genome, Mitochondrial, Haplotypes, Phylogeography, Sequence Analysis, DNA},
	issn = {1465-7333},
	doi = {10.1093/jhered/esx017},
	author = {Patel, Riddhi P and Wutke, Saskia and Lenz, Dorina and Mukherjee, Shomita and Ramakrishnan, Uma and Veron, G{\'e}raldine and Fickel, J{\"o}rns and Wilting, Andreas and F{\"o}rster, Daniel W}
}
