Konishi Sayaka, Hata Shoko, Matsuda Sayumi, Arai Kazushi, Mizoguchi Yasushi
Graduate School of Agriculture, Meiji University, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan.
Tokyo Metropolitan Agriculture and Forestry Research Center, Fujimi-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan.
Anim Sci J. 2017 Nov;88(11):1673-1677. doi: 10.1111/asj.12844. Epub 2017 Jun 19.
The browsing habits of sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Japan have caused serious ecological problems. Appropriate management of sika deer populations requires understanding the different genetic structures of local populations. In the present study, we used 10 microsatellite polymorphisms to explore the genetic structures of sika deer populations (162 individuals) living in the Kanto region. The expected heterozygosity of the Tanzawa mountain range population (Group I) was lower than that of the populations in the Kanto mountain areas (Group II). Our results suggest that moderate gene flow has occurred between the sika deer populations in the Kanto mountain areas (Group II), but not to or from the Tanzawa mountain range population (Group I). Also, genetic structure analysis showed that the Tanzawa population was separated from the other populations. This is probably attributable to a genetic bottleneck that developed in the Tanzawa sika deer population in the 1950s. However, we found that the Tanzawa population has since recovered from the bottleneck situation and now exhibits good genetic diversity. Our results show that it is essential to periodically evaluate the genetic structures of deer populations to develop conservation strategies appropriate to the specific structures of individual populations at any given time.
日本梅花鹿（Cervus nippon）的觅食习性引发了严重的生态问题。对梅花鹿种群进行适当管理需要了解当地种群的不同遗传结构。在本研究中，我们使用10个微卫星多态性来探究生活在关东地区的梅花鹿种群（162只个体）的遗传结构。丹泽山脉种群（第一组）的预期杂合度低于关东山区种群（第二组）。我们的结果表明，关东山区的梅花鹿种群（第二组）之间发生了适度的基因流动，但丹泽山脉种群（第一组）与其他种群之间没有基因流动。此外，遗传结构分析表明，丹泽种群与其他种群相互分离。这可能归因于20世纪50年代丹泽梅花鹿种群中出现的遗传瓶颈。然而，我们发现丹泽种群此后已从瓶颈状态中恢复，现在表现出良好的遗传多样性。我们的结果表明，定期评估鹿种群的遗传结构对于制定适合任何特定时间个体种群特定结构的保护策略至关重要。
