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Selection for Heterozygosity Gives Hope to a Wild Population of Inbred Wolves

Bensch, Staffan LU ; Andren, H ; Hansson, Bengt LU orcid ; Pedersen, HC ; Sand, H ; Sejberg, Douglas LU ; Wabakken, P ; Åkesson, Mikael LU and Liberg, O (2006) In PLoS ONE 1(1).
Abstract
Recent analyses have questioned the usefulness of heterozygosity estimates as measures of the inbreeding coefficient (f ), a finding that may have dramatic consequences for the management of endangered populations. We confirm that f and heterozygosity is poorly correlated in a wild and highly inbred wolf population. Yet, our data show that for each level of f, it was the most heterozygous wolves that established themselves as breeders, a selection process that seems to have

decelerated the loss of heterozygosity in the population despite a steady increase of f. The markers contributing to the positive relationship between heterozygosity and breeding success were found to be located on different chromosomes, but there was a... (More)
Recent analyses have questioned the usefulness of heterozygosity estimates as measures of the inbreeding coefficient (f ), a finding that may have dramatic consequences for the management of endangered populations. We confirm that f and heterozygosity is poorly correlated in a wild and highly inbred wolf population. Yet, our data show that for each level of f, it was the most heterozygous wolves that established themselves as breeders, a selection process that seems to have

decelerated the loss of heterozygosity in the population despite a steady increase of f. The markers contributing to the positive relationship between heterozygosity and breeding success were found to be located on different chromosomes, but there was a substantial amount of linkage disequilibrium in the population, indicating that the markers are reflecting heterozygosity over relatively wide genomic regions. Following our results we recommend that management programs of endangered populations include estimates of both f and heterozygosity, as they may contribute with complementary information about population viability. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
1
issue
1
article number
e72
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • wos:000207443600072
  • scopus:34447324197
  • pmid:17183704
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0000072
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
078547a9-3969-4274-911e-23da36745947 (old id 165361)
alternative location
http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000072
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 12:12:41
date last changed
2022-04-16 04:47:11
@article{078547a9-3969-4274-911e-23da36745947,
  abstract     = {{Recent analyses have questioned the usefulness of heterozygosity estimates as measures of the inbreeding coefficient (f ), a finding that may have dramatic consequences for the management of endangered populations. We confirm that f and heterozygosity is poorly correlated in a wild and highly inbred wolf population. Yet, our data show that for each level of f, it was the most heterozygous wolves that established themselves as breeders, a selection process that seems to have<br/><br>
decelerated the loss of heterozygosity in the population despite a steady increase of f. The markers contributing to the positive relationship between heterozygosity and breeding success were found to be located on different chromosomes, but there was a substantial amount of linkage disequilibrium in the population, indicating that the markers are reflecting heterozygosity over relatively wide genomic regions. Following our results we recommend that management programs of endangered populations include estimates of both f and heterozygosity, as they may contribute with complementary information about population viability.}},
  author       = {{Bensch, Staffan and Andren, H and Hansson, Bengt and Pedersen, HC and Sand, H and Sejberg, Douglas and Wabakken, P and Åkesson, Mikael and Liberg, O}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Selection for Heterozygosity Gives Hope to a Wild Population of Inbred Wolves}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5953397/625867.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0000072}},
  volume       = {{1}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}