Genes, Vol. 15, Pages 398: Insights for the Captive Management of South China Tigers Based on a Large-Scale Genetic Survey
Genes, Vol. 15, Pages 398: Insights for the Captive Management of South China Tigers Based on a Large-Scale Genetic Survey
Genes doi: 10.3390/genes15040398
Authors:
Wenping Zhang
Kaixiong Lin
Wenyuan Fu
Junjin Xie
Xueyang Fan
Mingchun Zhang
Hongxing Luo
Yuzhong Yin
Qiang Guo
He Huang
Tengteng Chen
Xipan Lin
Yaohua Yuan
Cheng Huang
Shizhang Du
There is an urgent need to find a way to improve the genetic diversity of captive South China tiger (SCT, Panthera tigris amoyensis), the most critically endangered taxon of living tigers, facing inbreeding depression. The genomes showed that 13 hybrid SCTs from Meihuashan were divided into two groups; one group included three individuals who had a closer relationship with pureblood SCTs than another group. The three individuals shared more that 40% of their genome with pureblood SCTs and might be potential individuals for genetic rescuing in SCTs. A large-scale genetic survey based on 319 pureblood SCTs showed that the mean microsatellite inbreeding coefficient of pureblood SCTs decreased significantly from 0.1789 to 0.0600 (p = 0.000009) and the ratio of heterozygous loci increased significantly from 38.5% to 43.2% (p = 0.02) after one individual of the Chongqing line joined the Suzhou line and began to breed in the mid-1980s, which is a reason why the current SCTs keep a moderate level of microsatellite heterozygosity and nucleotide diversity. However, it is important to establish a back-up populati...
Source: Genes - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Wenping Zhang Kaixiong Lin Wenyuan Fu Junjin Xie Xueyang Fan Mingchun Zhang Hongxing Luo Yuzhong Yin Qiang Guo He Huang Tengteng Chen Xipan Lin Yaohua Yuan Cheng Huang Shizhang Du Tags: Article Source Type: research