Phylogenetic Analyses of Asiatic Wild Ass, Equus kiang from Ladakh, India

Abstract Equus kiang is a robust equid and the only odd-toed wild ungulate endemic to the Tibetan Plateau. It belongs to the order Perissodactyla, the family Equidae, and the genus Equus. In India, it is found exclusively in the Ladakh region within the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary. In our research, we employed a non-invasive genetic approach to unravel the genetic diversity and to resolve the phylogeny of species by using partial mtDNA D-loop sequence information. A total of 33 samples were amplified and sequenced, and a final 27 D-loop partial sequences of ~230 bp were used for further analysis. The E. kiang population from Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary harbours moderate genetic diversity, displaying haplotype diversity of 0.501 with the discovery of two haplotypes. The phylogenetic tree constructed indicated the monophyletic clade of the two haplotypes with other E. kiang sequences. The median-joining network analysis revealed a gene flow across the border where the haplotypes from Ladakh displayed haplotype sharing with the Southern Tibet haplotype. Based on our results, we can conclude that the E. kiang population in the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary showcases a moderate genetic diversity, supporting the IUCN Least-Concern status of the species, and demonstrates gene flow with the nearby regions of Tibet.