Determination of caracal (Caracal caracal) mitochondrial DNA control region and investigation of phylogenetic relationships with other cats

Keywords: Caracal,Caracal caracal, mitochondrial DNA, control region, cytochrome-b,molecular genetics Caracal (Caracal caracal) is a medium-sized wild cat which is in the family of felidae. Caracal is of African origin and spreads throughout the world in the Middle East and in our country in the Mediterranean region. Recently, it is more related to ecological studies carried out in our country, but there is limited genetic information about the Caracal cat species. Nowadays, many genetic studies have been carried out in Europe to understand the phylogenetic relationships of the felidae family. Some genes on mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) are frequently used as markers in phylogenetic studies. Only the sequence of the NADH dehydrogenase 5 (ND5) gene was identified on the caracal mitochondrial DNA, compared to the others using only this region in the caracal cat system. For this study, hair and stool specimens were taken from the Darıca Faruk Yalçın Zoo Garden. With this study, it is aimed to determine the sequence of the caracal mitochondrial DNA control region and also to reveal the parts of the cytochrome-b gene that are not present in previous studies. This is the first study of the world about the caracal mt-DNA control region. It is also the first genetic studies of caracal in Turkey. The phylogenetic trees will be drawn with the data obtained at the end of the study, which will allow a clear understanding of the location of the cat's family of felidae. 613 bases of mtDNA were found at the end of the study.