No evidence of inbreeding depression in a Tasmanian devil insurance population despite significant variation in inbreeding

Scientific Reports
Rebecca GooleyCatherine E Grueber

Abstract

Inbreeding depression occurs when inbred individuals experience reduced fitness as a result of reduced genome-wide heterozygosity. The Tasmanian devil faces extinction due to a contagious cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). An insurance metapopulation was established in 2006 to ensure the survival of the species and to be used as a source population for re-wilding and genetic rescue. The emergence of DFTD and the rapid decline of wild devil populations have rendered the species at risk of inbreeding depression. We used 33 microsatellite loci to (1) reconstruct a pedigree for the insurance population and (2) estimate genome-wide heterozygosity for 200 individuals. Using heterozygosity-fitness correlations, we investigated the effect of heterozygosity on six diverse fitness measures (ulna length, asymmetry, weight-at-weaning, testes volume, reproductive success and survival). Despite statistically significant evidence of variation in individual inbreeding in this population, we found no associations between inbreeding and any of our six fitness measurements. We propose that the benign environment in captivity may decrease the intensity of inbreeding depression, relative to the stressful conditions in the wild. Future work...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 27, 2019·Molecular Ecology Resources·Elspeth A McLennanCatherine E Grueber
Nov 14, 2019·Genes·Parice BrandiesKatherine Belov
Jun 21, 2020·Molecular Ecology Resources·Belinda R WrightCatherine E Grueber
Mar 17, 2020·Reproduction, Fertility, and Development·C E GrueberK Belov
Sep 26, 2019·Conservation Genetics·Paul A HohenloheAndrew Storfer
May 30, 2021·Molecular Ecology·Catherine E GrueberKatherine Belov
Sep 24, 2021·Molecular Ecology·Stephanie J GallaTammy E Steeves

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
biopsies
genotyping

Software Mentioned

Genepop
MuMIn package
Multiplex Manager
PMx
CERVUS
GENEMARKER
MICROCHECKER
RepeatMasker
GenAlEx
Ensembl

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