Design of a universal primer pair for the identification of deer species

Deer species has both scientific research and economic value, and half of these species, however, are listed as endangered animals. For the conservation purpose, we designed a novel universal deer-specific PCR primer pair based on an evolutionarily conservative coding sequence (i.e., CEP295NL gene) across some deer species. This primer pair was successfully amplified and sequenced, showing around ~ 540 bp in cervids. Validation results showed that it can be utilized to develop a reliable and simple diagnostic tool for distinguishing other closely related species, as well as possibly interspecific identification amongst cervids.