Department of Biology, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
J Hered. 2010 Sep-Oct;101(5):581-90. doi: 10.1093/jhered/esq055. Epub 2010 May 19.
Ex situ conservation management remains an important tool in the face of continued habitat loss and global environmental change. Here, we use microsatellite marker variation to evaluate conventional assumptions of pedigree-based ex situ population management and directly inform a captive lowland tapir breeding program within a range country. We found relatively high levels of genetic variation (N(total) = 41; mean H(E) = 0.67 across 10 variable loci) and little evidence for relatedness among founder individuals (N(founders) = 10; mean relatedness = -0.05). Seven of 29 putative parent-offspring relationships were excluded by parentage analysis based on allele sharing, and we identified 2 individuals of high genetic value to the population (mk <or= 0.007) that would otherwise have been excluded from the breeding program. Traditional assumptions of founders being unrelated and individuals of unknown origin being highly related led to overestimates of mean kinship and inbreeding, and underestimates of gene diversity, when compared with values found when genetic markers were used to inform kinship. We discuss our results within the context of recent studies that have assessed the utility of neutral molecular markers for ex situ conservation.
面对持续的栖息地丧失和全球环境变化，原地保护管理仍然是一种重要的工具。在这里，我们使用微卫星标记变异来评估基于谱系的原地种群管理的常规假设，并直接为范围内的一个低地貘繁殖计划提供信息。我们发现相对较高的遗传变异水平（N(total) = 41；在 10 个可变基因座上平均 H(E) = 0.67），并且在创始个体之间几乎没有亲缘关系的证据（N(founders) = 10；平均亲缘关系 = -0.05）。基于等位基因共享的亲子关系分析排除了 29 对假定的亲子关系中的 7 对，我们确定了 2 个对种群具有高遗传价值的个体（mk <or= 0.007），否则这些个体将被排除在繁殖计划之外。与使用遗传标记来确定亲缘关系时发现的值相比，与假设创始人之间没有关系且来源不明的个体之间具有高度亲缘关系的传统假设导致了平均亲缘关系和近交系数的高估，以及基因多样性的低估。我们在最近评估中性分子标记在原地保护中的效用的研究背景下讨论了我们的结果。
