Zhang Shumiao, Li Chao, Li Yiping, Chen Qi, Hu Defu, Cheng Zhibin, Wang Xiao, Shan Yunfang, Bai Jiade, Liu Gang
Beijing Milu Ecological Research Center, Beijing, China.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China.
Front Genet. 2021 Sep 7;12:705337. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.705337. eCollection 2021.
The reintroduction is an important conservation tool to restore a species in its historically distribution area, but the rate of reintroduction success varies across species or regions due to different reasons. Genetic evaluation is important to the conservation management of reintroduced species. Conservation concerns relate to genetic threats for species with a small population size or severely historically bottle-necked species, such as negative consequences associated with loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding. The last 40years have seen a rapid increasing of population size for Père David's deer (), which originated from a limited founder population. However, the genetic structure of reintroduced Père David's deer has not been investigated in terms of population genomics, and it is still not clear about the evolutionary history of Père David's deer and to what extent the inbreeding level is. Conservation genomics methods were used to reconstruct the demographic history of Père David's deer, evaluate genetic diversity, and characterize genetic structure among 18 individuals from the captive, free-ranging and wild populations. The results showed that 1,456,457 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were obtained for Père David's deer, and low levels of genome-wide genetic diversity were observed in Père David's deer compared with Red deer () and Sika deer (). A moderate population genetic differentiation was detected among three populations of Père David's deer, especially between the captive population in Beijing Père David's deer park and the free-ranging population in Jiangsu Dafeng National Nature Reserve. The effective population size of Père David's deer started to decline ~25.8ka, and the similar levels of three populations' LD reflected the genetic impacts of long-term population bottlenecks in the Père David's deer. The findings of this study could highlight the necessity of individual exchange between different facilities, and genetic management should generally be integrated into conservation planning with other management considerations.
再引入是在物种历史分布区域恢复该物种的一项重要保护手段，但由于各种不同原因，再引入的成功率在不同物种或地区间存在差异。遗传评估对于再引入物种的保护管理至关重要。保护问题涉及种群规模较小或历史上曾经历严重瓶颈的物种所面临的遗传威胁，比如与遗传多样性丧失和近亲繁殖相关的负面后果。过去40年里，源自有限创始种群的麋鹿种群数量迅速增长。然而，从种群基因组学角度对再引入麋鹿的遗传结构尚未进行研究，目前仍不清楚麋鹿的进化历史以及近亲繁殖水平究竟如何。本研究运用保护基因组学方法重建了麋鹿的种群历史，评估了其遗传多样性，并对来自圈养、散养和野生种群的18个个体的遗传结构进行了表征。结果显示，共获得了麋鹿的1456457个单核苷酸多态性（SNP），与马鹿和梅花鹿相比，麋鹿的全基因组遗传多样性水平较低。在麋鹿的三个种群间检测到中等程度的种群遗传分化，尤其是北京麋鹿苑的圈养种群与江苏大丰国家级自然保护区的散养种群之间。麋鹿的有效种群大小在约25.8千年前开始下降，三个种群相似水平的连锁不平衡反映了麋鹿长期种群瓶颈的遗传影响。本研究结果凸显了不同养殖场所间个体交换的必要性，并且遗传管理通常应与其他管理考量因素一同纳入保护规划之中。
