A Review of Genetic Evidence of Widespread Depletion of Cheetah Gene Diversity and The Need to Conserve the Surviving Populations

Cheetah is the only species from the Acinonyx subfamily and genus whose global population trend has been declining. This species is known as a species with a low genetic variation that has resulted from bottlenecks about 10,000 and 12,000 years ago. All populations of the Asiatic cheetah subspecies are extinct in the Middle East and Southwest of Asia and Iran. Asiatic cheetah subspecies listed in the Critically Endangered because of severe decline in the gene diversity level which has resulted from habitat degradation, geographical separation of populations, and increasing inbreeding, there are only a few of the species remained in the wild of Iran. In this review study, the genetic variation reduction at different levels of Allozymes molecular markers, microsatellites, mitochondrial DNA, and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in the entire cheetah genome was investigated and validated. studies based on restriction fragment length polymorphism, indicate severe genomic reductions in the occurrence of Single Nucleotide Variant, the density of Single Nucleotide Variant, Single Nucleotide Variants protein-coding genes, Major Histocompatibility Complex genes, and mitochondrial DNA Single Nucleotide Variant compared with other species. Significant reductions in overall genetic variation by multiple genomic markers lead to increased cubs’ mortality, severe abnormalities in sperm growth, problems with captive reproduction programs, and increased vulnerability to the spread of infectious diseases. Since conservation genetics plays a key role in the conservation and management of species, the results of this study can be used in genetic conservation, reproduction in captivity, and the management of the remaining populations of Asian cheetahs.