CHENNAI: A state-of-the-art DNA sequencing facility to boost conservation and assist in the investigation of wildlife crimes was inaugurated at the Centre for Wildlife Forensics and Wildlife Histopathology Laboratory at the Advanced Institute of Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) here. Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary (environment, climate change and forest) inaugurated the facility during a two-day annual research conference at AIWC.
"This is the first such facility established and run by a state forest department in the country. DNA sequencing has a lot of application areas. For instance, we are implementing Elephant Death Audit Framework and forensics plays a crucial role in bringing a logical conclusion to a case, be it convicting an accused or finding the exact root cause of the death," said Sahu.
The government has also allocated Rs 1.2 crores under the Tamil Nadu forest department modernisation scheme for research work in AIWC. The state government was previously criticised by Madras high court for keeping AIWC idle, although it was inaugurated in 2017 spending `20 crore for conducting studies on zoonotic transmissions and genome sequencing of emerging strains.
"It will save time and money for the government since we are currently dependent on central laboratories. The government also has plans to get NABL accreditation for the laboratory to process samples from outside the state," Sahu added.
"Having an in-house capability to conduct DNA sequencing will help the state in the identification of pathogenic diseases and their control. If you find sick animals, a tissue sample can be collected and sequenced. Early diagnosis can prevent an outbreak. In crime cases, strong evidence can be built to improve the conviction rate. In addition, the genetics of wildlife and the impact of events like drought, salinity or fire on animal or plant life can be studied, said Shekhar Kumar Niraj, PCCF and member of SIT investigating elephant deaths.
The facility will also help in improving the conviction rate with the help of forensic evidence. "Legal gap analysis conducted by our team has shown that lack of robust evidence is frequently sighted by courts across the country as a reason for acquittal in wildlife crime cases. This facility will go a long way in increasing the department's ability to collect critical forensic evidence," said Uttara Mendiratta, lead, of the Counter Wildlife Trafficking programme at Wildlife Conservation Society, India.
On specific details, AIWC officials said the equipment procured is an 8-capillary automatic sanger sequence analyzer, which is capable of sequencing a large number of DNA samples in a short period of time. Also, a histopathology unit was also newly opened at AIWC, which would process tissue samples for disease diagnosis. This is one of the tools used to help in the final diagnosis of the cause of death of an animal.