Barragán-Ruiz Carmen Elena, Silva-Santos Rosane, Saranholi Bruno H, Desbiez Arnaud L J, Galetti Pedro Manoel
Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, Brazil.
Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, United Kingdom.
Front Genet. 2021 Jul 1;12:669350. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.669350. eCollection 2021.
In general, large mammal species with highly specialized feeding behavior and solitary habits are expected to suffer genetic consequences from habitat loss and fragmentation. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the genetic diversity distribution of the threatened giant anteater inhabiting a human-modified landscape. We used 10 microsatellite loci to assess the genetic diversity and population structure of 107 giant anteaters sampled in the Brazilian Central-Western region. No genetic population structuring was observed in this region suggesting no gene flow restriction within the studied area. On the other hand, the moderate level of genetic diversity (Ho = 0.54), recent bottleneck detected and inbreeding (F, 0.13; ≤ 0.001) signatures suggest potential impacts on the genetic variation of this Xenarthra. Additionally, a previous demographic reduction was suggested. Thus, considering the increased human-promoted impacts across the entire area of distribution of the giant anteater, our results can illustrate the potential effects of these disturbances on the genetic variation, allowing us to request the long-term conservation of this emblematic species.
一般来说，具有高度专业化觅食行为和独居习性的大型哺乳动物物种预计会因栖息地丧失和破碎化而遭受遗传后果。为了验证这一假设，我们分析了栖息在人类改造景观中的濒危巨型食蚁兽的遗传多样性分布。我们使用10个微卫星位点评估了在巴西中西部地区采集的107只巨型食蚁兽的遗传多样性和种群结构。在该地区未观察到遗传种群结构，这表明在研究区域内没有基因流动限制。另一方面，中等水平的遗传多样性（观测杂合度=0.54）、检测到的近期瓶颈效应和近亲繁殖（F=0.13；P≤0.001）特征表明对这种异关节动物的遗传变异可能产生影响。此外，还表明了先前的种群数量减少。因此，考虑到人类在巨型食蚁兽整个分布区域造成的影响不断增加，我们的结果可以说明这些干扰对遗传变异的潜在影响，使我们能够要求对这一标志性物种进行长期保护。
