| dc.description.abstract | Consumption of meat from wildlife, so called bushmeat is gaining popularity because it offers
cheaper alternative sources of protein to the food-poor families. Such illegal utilization also
increases revenue for retailers who sell it to unsuspecting customers. However, bushmeat
consumption compromises wildlife conservation efforts and may result in common species
becoming rare and endangered species get threatened with extinction. In Kenya such utilization is
outlawed by The Wildlife Conservation and Management Act (Cap 376). The objective of this
study was to estimate the prevalence of bushmeat consumption in Nairobi. 556 unknown raw
meat samples were obtained from butcheries in and around Nairobi, 12 known samples were
obtained, six from the Kenya wildlife service and six from the international livestock research
institute. DNA was extracted from the samples using the Qiagen® kit and cytochrome b was
amplified from each sample using PCR. Homologous cytochrome b nucleotide sequences were
generated from purified PCR amplicons. The species of origin of each meat sample was
determined by aligning its cytochrome b sequence to sequences in GenBank® genetic database
using BLAST. All the meat samples were from domestic animals with 0% prevalence in game
meat utilization. However, there were high levels of substitution between chevon and mutton
especially in regions in the outskirts of Nairobi. The sequence polymorphism of the cytochrome b
was assessed using DNAsp to determine its suitability in animal species identification. The
average genetic distances within the same species were 0.01 and the genetic distances between
different species was approximately 0.6. This shows that the gene is suitable for species
identification because its highly conserved within the same species yet its highly polymorphic
between different species. In analyzing mixtures of different animal, 12 pairs of species-specific
primers were designed using Amplicon® software. These primers were specific for seven wild
and five domestic animals and were used to identify component species in a multiplex PCR. At
optimal conditions, all the primer pairs were specific to the species they had been designed for
and could detect presence of specific species in mixtures using multiplex PCR. All the samples
tested using this method were composed of single species, however, the technique requires
validation to establish the minimum concentration of DNA that can be detected by the primers in
the multiplex PCR. | en |
