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Bagatharia, S.B.; Joshi, M.N.; Pandya, R.V.; Pandit, A.S.; Patel, R.P.; Desai, S.M.; Sharma, A.; Panchal, O.; Jasmani, F.P.; Saxena, A.K.
Complete mitogenome of asiatic lion resolves phylogenetic status within _Panthera_
2013  BMC Genomics (14): 572-581

The origin, evolution and speciation of the lion, has been subject of interest, debate and study. The present surviving lions of the genus _Panthera_ comprise of eight sub-species inclusive of Asiatic lion _Panthera leo persica_ of India's Gir forest. Except for the Asiatic lion, the other seven subspecies are found in different parts of Africa. There have been different opinions regarding the phylogenetic status of _Panthera leo_, as well as classifying lions of different geographic regions into subspecies and races. In the present study, mitogenome sequence of _P. leo persica_ deduced, using Ion Torrent PGM to assess phylogeny and evolution which may play an increasingly important role in conservation biology. The mtDNA sequence of _P. leo persica_ is 17,057 bp in length with 40.8% GC content. Annotation of mitogenome revealed total 37 genes, including 13 protein coding, 2 rRNA and 22 tRNA. Phylogenetic analysis based on whole mitogenome, suggests _Panthera pardus_ as a neighbouring species to _P. leo_ with species divergence at ~2.96 mya. This work presents first report on complete mitogenome of _Panthera leo persica_. It sheds light on the phylogenetic and evolutionary status within and across Felidae members. The result compared and evaluated with earlier reports of Felidae shows alteration of phylogenetic status and species evolution. This study may provide information on genetic diversity and population stability.

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