scholarly journals Minimal loss of genetic diversity and no inbreeding depression in blueflag iris (Iris versicolor) on islands in the Bay of Fundy

Botany ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (7) ◽  
pp. 543-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel T. Wheelwright ◽  
Elise Begin ◽  
Claire Ellwanger ◽  
Samuel H. Taylor ◽  
Judy L. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Leaf Tissue ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Island Populations ◽  
Hand Pollination

Isolated island plant populations founded by few individuals are often characterized by decreased genetic variation and increased inbreeding. Our aim was to measure population genetic diversity and inbreeding depression in blueflag iris (Iris versicolor L., Iridaceae), a native allotetraploid, on islands in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Hand-pollination experiments (inbreeding, within-site outbreeding, between-island outbreeding) on Kent Island, New Brunswick, revealed no evidence for inbreeding depression across a broad array of morphological, physiological, and life-history traits. Leaf tissue samples collected from three mainland sites and 10 islands in the Bay of Fundy and genotyped using three microsatellite primer pairs showed that island populations were less genetically diverse than mainland populations. Island populations were genetically distinct from each other, indicating a bottleneck effect associated with colonization and continued isolation. Nonetheless, substantial genetic variation was maintained at the population level. Polyploidy and a history of self-fertilization may allow Iris versicolor to avoid inbreeding depression in isolated populations. Our study supports Anderson’s (1936) original hypothesis that substantial genetic diversity can be preserved within polyploid species, even with extensive inbreeding.

Inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity increase extinction risk

2019 ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Richard Frankham ◽  
Jonathan D. Ballou ◽  
Katherine Ralls ◽  
Mark D. B. Eldridge ◽  
Michele R. Dudash ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Heterozygote Advantage ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
Loss Of Genetic Diversity ◽  
Harmful Effects

Inbreeding reduces survival and reproduction (i.e. it causes inbreeding depression), and thereby increases extinction risk. Inbreeding depression is due to increased homozygosity for harmful alleles and at loci exhibiting heterozygote advantage. Inbreeding depression is nearly universal in sexually reproducing organisms that are diploid or have higher ploidies. Impacts of inbreeding are generally greater in species that naturally outbreed than those that inbreed, in stressful than benign environments, and for fitness than peripheral traits. Harmful effects accumulate across the life cycle, resulting in devastating effects on total fitness in outbreeding species.Species face ubiquitous environmental change and must adapt or they will go extinct. Genetic diversity is the raw material required for evolutionary adaptation. However, loss of genetic diversity is unavoidable in small isolated populations, diminishing their capacity to evolve in response to environmental changes, and thereby increasing extinction risk.

Inbreeding and Inbreeding Depression

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald M. Waller ◽  
Lukas F. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Random Mating ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Great Length ◽  
Genetic Rescue ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Genetic Transmission

Inbreeding (also referred to as “consanguinity”) occurs when mates are related to each other due to incest, assortative mating, small population size, or population sub-structuring. Inbreeding results in an excess of homozygotes and hence a deficiency of heterozygotes. This, in turn, exposes recessive genetic variation otherwise hidden by heterozygosity with dominant alleles relative to random mating. Interest in inbreeding arose from its use in animal and plant breeding programs to expose such variation and to fix variants in genetically homogenous lines. Starting with Gregor Mendel’s experiments with peas, geneticists have widely exploited inbreeding as a research tool, leading R. C. Lewontin to conclude that “Every discovery in classical and population genetics has depended on some sort of inbreeding experiment” (see Lewontin’s 1965 article “The Theory of Inbreeding.” Science 150:1800–1801). Charles Darwin wrote an entire book on the effects of inbreeding as measured in fifty-two taxa of plants. He and others noted that most plants and animals go to great length to avoid inbreeding, suggesting that inbreeding has high costs that often outweigh the benefits of inbreeding. Benefits of inbreeding include increased genetic transmission while the costs of inbreeding manifest as inbreeding depression when deleterious, mostly recessive alleles otherwise hidden as heterozygotes emerge in homozygote form upon inbreeding. Inbreeding also reduces fitness when heterozygotes are more fit than both homozygotes, but such overdominance is rare. Recurrent mutation continuously generates deleterious recessive alleles that create a genetic “load” of deleterious mutations mostly hidden within heterozygotes in outcrossing populations. Upon inbreeding, the load is expressed when deleterious alleles segregate as homozygotes, causing often substantial inbreeding depression. Although inbreeding alone does not change allele frequencies, it does redistribute genetic variation, reducing it within families or populations while increasing it among families or populations. Inbreeding also increases selection by exposing deleterious recessive mutations, a process called purging that can deplete genetic variation. For all these reasons, inbreeding is a central concept in evolutionary biology. Inbreeding is also central to conservation biology as small and isolated populations become prone to inbreeding and thus suffer inbreeding depression. Inbreeding can reduce population viability and increase extinction risk by reducing individual survival and/or reproduction. Such effects can often be reversed, however, by introducing new genetic material that re-establishes heterozygosity (“genetic rescue”). The current availability of DNA sequence and expression data is now allowing more detailed analyses of the causes and evolutionary consequences of inbreeding.

scholarly journals Associative Overdominance and Negative Epistasis Shape Genome-Wide Ancestry Landscape in Supplemented Fish Populations

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 524
Author(s):  
Maeva Leitwein ◽  
Hugo Cayuela ◽  
Louis Bernatchez
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Drift ◽  
Recombination Rate ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Negative Epistasis

The interplay between recombination rate, genetic drift and selection modulates variation in genome-wide ancestry. Understanding the selective processes at play is of prime importance toward predicting potential beneficial or negative effects of supplementation with domestic strains (i.e., human-introduced strains). In a system of lacustrine populations supplemented with a single domestic strain, we documented how population genetic diversity and stocking intensity produced lake-specific patterns of domestic ancestry by taking the species’ local recombination rate into consideration. We used 552 Brook Charr (Salvelinus fontinalis) from 22 small lacustrine populations, genotyped at ~32,400 mapped SNPs. We observed highly variable patterns of domestic ancestry between each of the 22 populations without any consistency in introgression patterns of the domestic ancestry. Our results suggest that such lake-specific ancestry patterns were mainly due to variable associative overdominance (AOD) effects among populations (i.e., potential positive effects due to the masking of possible deleterious alleles in low recombining regions). Signatures of AOD effects were also emphasized by highly variable patterns of genetic diversity among and within lakes, potentially driven by predominant genetic drift in those small isolated populations. Local negative effects such as negative epistasis (i.e., potential genetic incompatibilities between the native and the introduced population) potentially reflecting precursory signs of outbreeding depression were also observed at a chromosomal scale. Consequently, in order to improve conservation practices and management strategies, it became necessary to assess the consequences of supplementation at the population level by taking into account both genetic diversity and stocking intensity when available.

scholarly journals High-Level Genetic Diversity but No Population Structure Inferred from Nuclear and Mitochondrial Markers of the Peritrichous Ciliate Carchesium polypinum in the Grand River Basin (North America)

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 3187-3195 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Gentekaki ◽  
D. H. Lynn
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Population Structure ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Large Subunit ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Nuclear Markers ◽  
Mitochondrial Markers ◽  
Intraspecific Genetic Variation ◽  
Grand River

ABSTRACT Studies that assess intraspecific genetic variation in ciliates are few and quite recent. Consequently, knowledge of the subject and understanding of the processes that underlie it are limited. We sought to assess the degree of intraspecific genetic variation in Carchesium polypinum (Ciliophora: Peritrichia), a cosmopolitan, freshwater ciliate. We isolated colonies of C. polypinum from locations in the Grand River basin in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. We then used the nuclear markers—ITS1, ITS2, and the hypervariable regions of the large subunit rRNA—and an 819-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene (cox-1) to investigate the intraspecific genetic variation of C. polypinum and the degree of resolution of the above-mentioned markers at the population level. We also sought to determine whether the organism demonstrated any population structure that mapped onto the geography of the region. Our study shows that there is a high degree of genetic diversity at the isolate level, revealed by the mitochondrial markers but not the nuclear markers. Furthermore, our results indicate that C. polypinum is likely not a single morphospecies as previously thought.

scholarly journals Distance between pollen donor and recipient influences fruiting success in slickspot peppergrass, Lepidium papilliferum

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (12) ◽  
pp. 1705-1710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian C Robertson ◽  
Amy Colleen Ulappa
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Spatial Structure ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Sagebrush Steppe ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Plant Populations ◽  
Pollen Donor ◽  
Hand Pollination ◽  
Limited Dispersal

Plant populations are often spatially structured owing to limited dispersal of pollen and seed. Mating between neighboring individuals in such populations often leads to reduced reproductive performance relative to matings between distant individuals. This response, which may be a result of inbreeding depression or prezygotic mating barriers, was investigated for slickspot peppergrass, Lepidium papilliferum L. (Brassicaceae), a rare insect-pollinated mustard endemic to sagebrush–steppe habitat in southwestern Idaho. Through hand pollination experiments we found that individual plants receiving pollen from distant sources (75–100 m and 6.5–20 km away) had significantly higher percent fruit sets than those relying on pollen from neighboring plants (<1 m away). Self pollinated plants produced little or no fruit. These results suggest that L. papilliferum relies primarily, if not exclusively, on outcrossed pollination, and that its populations are spatially structured. Conservation efforts should therefore strive to protect sufficiently large areas of suitable habitat to ensure maintenance of genetic diversity and preserve or enhance connectivity between populations.Key words: Brassicaceae, inbreeding, outbreeding, population spatial structure, rare species.

Genetic variation within and among populations of Camelliajaponica (Theaceae) in Korea

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myong Gi Chung ◽  
Soon Suk Kang
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Pollen Dispersal ◽  
Island Populations ◽  
Generation Times ◽  
Genetic Diversity And Structure ◽  
Stump Sprouting ◽  
Ability To Regenerate ◽  
The Mean ◽  
High Level

The genetic diversity and structure of 17 Korean populations of Camelliajaponica L., a broad-leaved evergreen tree, was examined. Although most populations are restricted to several islands near the southern and southwestern coast of the Korean Peninsula, they maintain higher levels of genetic variation within populations than do long-lived, woody angiosperms. For example, 13 of 16 loci examined were polymorphic in at least one population, the mean number of alleles per locus was 2.63, and mean expected heterozygosity was 0.265. These values were comparable with those for continuously distributed, mainland populations of C. japonica in Japan. However, a considerably high level of heterozygote deficiency was observed in Korean populations of C. japonica (mean FIS = 0.202). About 13% of the total genetic variation was found among populations (GST = 0.129). Indirect estimates of the number of migrants per generation (1.69, calculated from FST; 2.14, calculated from the mean frequency of eight private alleles) indicate that gene flow among island populations is moderate. Factors contributing to the high levels of genetic diversity found in the entire species of C. japonica include long generation times, ability to regenerate by stump sprouting, predominant outcrossing induced by animal vectors, and occasional pollen dispersal by birds.

Patterns of Genetic Diversity and Nature of the Breeding System in Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae)

1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 365 ◽  
Author(s):  
PA Butcher ◽  
JC Bell ◽  
GF Moran
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Distance Measures ◽  
Melaleuca Alternifolia ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Tea Tree ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Baseline Information ◽  
Geographic Separation ◽  
Natural Stands

Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden & Betche) Cheel is harvested from natural stands and plantations for production of Australian tea-tree oil. Genetic variation was examined and outcrossing rates estimated to provide baseline information for breeding and selection programs. The overall genetic diversity (HT = 0.186) is comparable to other regionally distributed Australian tree species. There was a general trend for more isolated populations to have less genetic variation than populations from the centre of the species distribution. The level of differentiation among populations was low (12%), associated with a high outcrossing rate (93%) and high levels of gene flow. Geographic separation of Queensland and New South Wales populations corresponds with genetic distance measures.

Allozyme variation and population structure of Carex humilis var. nana (Cyperaceae) in Korea

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Kyu Huh
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Population Structure ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
North American ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Allozyme Variation ◽  
Population Divergence ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Allozyme Loci

Genetic diversity and population structure of 22 Carex humilis var. nana Ohwi (Cyperaceae) populations in Korea were determined using genetic variation at 23 allozyme loci. This is a long-lived herbaceous species with a widespread distribution in eastern Asia. The 12 enzymes revealed 23 putative loci, of which 11 were polymorphic (47.8%). Genetic diversity at the varietal level and at the population level was 0.131 and 0.118, respectively. Total genetic diversity (HT = 0.274) and within population genetic diversity (HS = 0.256) were high, whereas the extent of the population divergence was relatively low (GST = 0.068). An indirect estimate of the number of migrants per generation (Nm = 3.42) indicated that gene flow was high among Korean populations. Wide geographic ranges, perennial herbaceous nature, and the persistence of multiple generations are associated with the high level of genetic variation. A distinct difference between Asian and North American Carex is shown in the proportion of genetic variation (GST) (p < 0.001). The mean GST of Asian Carex was estimated as 0.056; thus, only 5.6% of genetic variability was distributed among populations, whereas the mean GST of North American Carex was estimated as 19.5% (3.5 times higher). It is probable that the geographical distance between population pairs and presence or absence of glacial history may play roles in the substantial difference between both groups.Key words: Carex humilis var. nana, genetic diversity, population structure.

Genetic and Ecological Variation in Atherosperma moschatum and the Implications for Conservation of Its Biodiversity

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 663 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Shapcott
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
New South ◽  
Genetic Distances ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Canopy Tree ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Genetic Substructure ◽  
Temperate Rainforests ◽  
Vegetative Spread

Population genetics and ecology of Atherosperma moschatum Labill. (sassafras), a major canopy tree of Australian temperate rainforests, were examined and used to identify priorities and strategies for conservation of its genetic diversity. The genetic diversity among populations was fairly low, but higher than average for long-lived late successional or wind dispersed species (Hamrick and Godt 1989). Genetic distances between populations were correlated with geographic distances and climatic differences. The major genetic differentiation was between the mainland populations and those in Tasmania, with the New South Wales populations being quite genetically distinct. Most genetic variation was found within populations, however, most populations were inbred. This is likely to be due to selfing and spatial genetic substructure resulting from vegetative spread and local dispersal. There was evidence of regeneration in all populations, however no consistent regeneration patterns emerged. Population density was inexplicably correlated with genetic distance. There was as much diversity in all variables (ecological and genetic) measured in small isolated populations as there was in stands within larger assemblages; therefore, population size does not appear to be a major factor affecting viability. Genetic variation was spread throughout the distribution of A. moschatum. Therefore, populations from throughout its range would need to be conserved to retain the genetic diversity within this species.

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