scholarly journals The Identification of Runs of Homozygosity Gives a Focus on the Genetic Diversity and Adaptation of the “Charolais de Cuba” Cattle

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2233
Author(s):  
Yoel Rodríguez-Valera ◽  
Dominique Rocha ◽  
Michel Naves ◽  
Gilles Renand ◽  
Eliecer Pérez-Pineda ◽  
...  

Inbreeding and effective population size (Ne) are fundamental indicators for the management and conservation of genetic diversity in populations. Genomic inbreeding gives accurate estimates of inbreeding, and the Ne determines the rate of the loss of genetic variation. The objective of this work was to study the distribution of runs of homozygosity (ROHs) in order to estimate genomic inbreeding (FROH) and an effective population size using 38,789 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) from the Illumina Bovine 50K BeadChip in 86 samples from populations of Charolais de Cuba (n = 40) cattle and to compare this information with French (n = 20) and British Charolais (n = 26) populations. In the Cuban, French, and British Charolais populations, the average estimated genomic inbreeding values using the FROH statistics were 5.7%, 3.4%, and 4%, respectively. The dispersion measured by variation coefficient was high at 43.9%, 37.0%, and 54.2%, respectively. The effective population size experienced a very similar decline during the last century in Charolais de Cuba (from 139 to 23 individuals), in French Charolais (from 142 to 12), and in British Charolais (from 145 to 14) for the ~20 last generations. However, the high variability found in the ROH indicators and FROH reveals an opportunity for maintaining the genetic diversity of this breed with an adequate mating strategy, which can be favored with the use of molecular markers. Moreover, the detected ROH were compared to previous results obtained on the detection of signatures of selection in the same breed. Some of the observed signatures were confirmed by the ROHs, emphasizing the process of adaptation to tropical climate experienced by the Charolais de Cuba population.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Halsey ◽  
John Stuhler ◽  
Natalia J Bayona-Vasquez ◽  
Roy N Platt ◽  
Jim R Goetze ◽  
...  

Organisms with low effective population sizes are at greater risk of extinction because of reduced genetic diversity.   Dipodomys elator  is a kangaroo rat that is classified as threatened in Texas and field surveys from the past 50 years indicate that the distribution of this species has decreased. This suggests geographic range reductions that could have caused population fluctuations, potentially impacting effective population size. Conversely, the more common and widespread  D. ordii  is thought to exhibit relative geographic and demographic stability. Genetic variation between  D. elator  and  D. ordii  samples was assessed using 3RAD, a modified restriction site associated sequencing approach. It was hypothesized that  D. elator  would show lower levels of nucleotide diversity, observed heterozygosity, and effective population size when compared to  D. ordii . Also of interest was identifying population structure within contemporary samples of  D. elator  and detecting genetic variation between temporal samples that could indicate demographic dynamics. Up to 61,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed. It was determined that genetic variability and effective population size in contemporary  D. elator  populations were lower than that of  D. ordii, that there is only slight, if any, structure within contemporary  D. elator  populations, and there is little genetic differentiation between spatial or temporal historical samples suggesting little change in nuclear genetic diversity over 30 years. Results suggest that genetic diversity of  D. elator  has remained stable despite claims of reduced population size and/or abundance, which may indicate a metapopulation-like system, whose fluctuations might counteract any immediate decrease in fitness.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3574
Author(s):  
Roel Meyermans ◽  
Wim Gorssen ◽  
Nadine Buys ◽  
Steven Janssens

Genetic diversity is increasingly important for researchers and society. Small and local populations deserve more attention especially, as they may harbor important characteristics. Moreover, small populations are at greater risk and their genetic management is often more challenging. Likewise, European red cattle populations are threatened, as they are outcompeted by more specialized cattle breeds. In this study, we investigate the genetic diversity of two local Belgian red cattle breeds: Belgian Red and Belgian White Red cattle. A total of 270 animals were genotyped via medium density SNP arrays. Genetic diversity was assessed using runs of homozygosity screening, effective population size estimation and Fst analyses. Genomic inbreeding coefficients based on runs of homozygosity were estimated at 7.0% for Belgian Red and 6.1% for Belgian White Red cattle, and both populations had a low effective population size (68 and 86, respectively). PCA, Fst and admixture analyses revealed the relationship to 52 other international breeds, where they were closest related to some Belgian, French, Scandinavian and Dutch breeds. Moreover, Fst analyses revealed for Belgian Red cattle a signature of selection on BTA6, adjacent to the KIT gene. This study gains important knowledge on the genetic diversity of these two small local red cattle breeds, and will aid in their (genetic) management.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Ablondi ◽  
Alberto Sabbioni ◽  
Giorgia Stocco ◽  
Claudio Cipolat-Gotet ◽  
Christos Dadousis ◽  
...  

Genetic diversity has become an urgent matter not only in small local breeds but also in more specialized ones. While the use of genomic data in livestock breeding programs increased genetic gain, there is increasing evidence that this benefit may be counterbalanced by the potential loss of genetic variability. Thus, in this study, we aimed to investigate the genetic diversity in the Italian Holstein dairy cattle using pedigree and genomic data from cows born between 2002 and 2020. We estimated variation in inbreeding, effective population size, and generation interval and compared those aspects prior to and after the introduction of genomic selection in the breed. The dataset contained 84,443 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and 74,485 cows were analyzed. Pedigree depth based on complete generation equivalent was equal to 10.67. A run of homozygosity (ROH) analysis was adopted to estimate SNP-based inbreeding (FROH). The average pedigree inbreeding was 0.07, while the average FROH was more than double, being equal to 0.17. The pattern of the effective population size based on pedigree and SNP data was similar although different in scale, with a constant decrease within the last five generations. The overall inbreeding rate (ΔF) per year was equal to +0.27% and +0.44% for Fped and FROH throughout the studied period, which corresponded to about +1.35% and +2.2% per generation, respectively. A significant increase in the ΔF was found since the introduction of genomic selection in the breed. This study in the Italian Holstein dairy cattle showed the importance of controlling the loss of genetic diversity to ensure the long-term sustainability of this breed, as well as to guarantee future market demands.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. C. Miao ◽  
Z. J. Zhang ◽  
J. R. Su

Abstract Taxus yunnanensis, which is an endangered tree that is considered valuable because it contains the effective natural anticancer metabolite taxol and heteropolysaccharides, has long suffered from severe habitat fragmentation. In this study, the levels of genetic diversity in two populations of 136 individuals were analyzed based on eleven polymorphic microsatellite loci. Our results suggested that these two populations were characterized by low genetic diversity (NE = 2.303/2.557; HO = 0.168/0.142; HE = 0.453/0.517), a population bottleneck, a low effective population size (Ne = 7/9), a high level of inbreeding (FIS = 0.596/0.702), and a weak, but significant spatial genetic structure (Sp = 0.001, b = −0.001*). Habitat fragmentation, seed shadow overlap and limited seed and pollen dispersal and potential selfing may have contributed to the observed gene tic structure. The results of the present study will enable development of practical conservation measures to effectively conserve the valuable genetic resources of this endangered plant.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adéla Nosková ◽  
Meenu Bhati ◽  
Naveen Kumar Kadri ◽  
Danang Crysnanto ◽  
Stefan Neuenschwander ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The key-ancestor approach has been frequently applied to prioritize individuals for whole-genome sequencing based on their marginal genetic contribution to current populations. Using this approach, we selected 70 key ancestors from two lines of the Swiss Large White breed that have been selected divergently for fertility and fattening traits and sequenced their genomes with short paired-end reads. Results Using pedigree records, we estimated the effective population size of the dam and sire line to 72 and 44, respectively. In order to assess sequence variation in both lines, we sequenced the genomes of 70 boars at an average coverage of 16.69-fold. The boars explained 87.95 and 95.35% of the genetic diversity of the breeding populations of the dam and sire line, respectively. Reference-guided variant discovery using the GATK revealed 26,862,369 polymorphic sites. Principal component, admixture and FST analyses indicated considerable genetic differentiation between the lines. Genomic inbreeding quantified using runs of homozygosity was higher in the sire than dam line (0.28 vs 0.26). Using two complementary approaches (CLR and iHS), we detected 51 signatures of selection. However, only six signatures of selection overlapped between both lines. We used the sequenced haplotypes of the 70 key ancestors as a reference panel to call 22,618,811 genotypes in 175 pigs that had been sequenced at very low coverage (1.11-fold) using GLIMPSE. The genotype concordance, non-reference sensitivity and non-reference discrepancy between thus inferred and Illumina PorcineSNP60 BeadChip-called genotypes was 97.60, 98.73 and 3.24%, respectively. The low-pass sequencing-derived genomic relationship coefficients were highly correlated (r > 0.99) with those obtained from microarray genotyping. Conclusions We assessed genetic diversity within and between two lines of the Swiss Large White pig breed. Our analyses revealed considerable differentiation, even though the split into two populations occurred only few generations ago. The sequenced haplotypes of the key ancestor animals enabled us to implement genotyping by low-pass sequencing which offers an intriguing cost-effective approach to increase the variant density over current array-based genotyping by more than 350-fold.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10348
Author(s):  
Austin S. Chipps ◽  
Amanda M. Hale ◽  
Sara P. Weaver ◽  
Dean A. Williams

There are increasing concerns regarding bat mortality at wind energy facilities, especially as installed capacity continues to grow. In North America, wind energy development has recently expanded into the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas where bat species had not previously been exposed to wind turbines. Our study sought to characterize genetic diversity, population structure, and effective population size in Dasypterus ega and D. intermedius, two tree-roosting yellow bats native to this region and for which little is known about their population biology and seasonal movements. There was no evidence of population substructure in either species. Genetic diversity at mitochondrial and microsatellite loci was lower in these yellow bat taxa than in previously studied migratory tree bat species in North America, which may be due to the non-migratory nature of these species at our study site, the fact that our study site is located at a geographic range end for both taxa, and possibly weak ascertainment bias at microsatellite loci. Historical effective population size (NEF) was large for both species, while current estimates of Ne had upper 95% confidence limits that encompassed infinity. We found evidence of strong mitochondrial differentiation between the two putative subspecies of D. intermedius (D. i. floridanus and D. i. intermedius) which are sympatric in this region of Texas, yet little differentiation using microsatellite loci. We suggest this pattern is due to secondary contact and hybridization and possibly incomplete lineage sorting at microsatellite loci. We also found evidence of some hybridization between D. ega and D. intermedius in this region of Texas. We recommend that our data serve as a starting point for the long-term genetic monitoring of these species in order to better understand the impacts of wind-related mortality on these populations over time.


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