AI Article Synopsis
- Conservation breeding programs try to keep the wild animals' genes healthy, aiming for 90% of their genetic variety, but they often forget to check how well those genes actually work.
- Researchers studied more than 500 genes in Tasmanian devils, which have seriously declined because of a contagious cancer called devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), but they haven't completely disappeared.
- They found that the devils in a special conservation program have similar gene traits to the wild ones, meaning these captive devils could still help the wild population if needed.
Article Abstract
Conservation breeding programs aim to maintain 90% wild genetic diversity, but rarely assess functional diversity. Here, we compare both genome-wide and functional diversity (in over 500 genes) of Tasmanian devils () within the insurance metapopulation and across the species' range (64,519 km). Populations have declined by 80% since 1996 due to a contagious cancer, devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). However, predicted local extinctions have not occurred. Recent suggestions of selection for "resistance" alleles in the wild precipitated concerns that insurance population devils may be unsuitable for translocations. Using 830 wild samples collected at 31 locations between 2012 and 2021, and 553 insurance metapopulation devils, we show that the insurance metapopulation is representative of current wild genetic diversity. Allele frequencies at DFTD-associated loci were not substantially different between captive and wild devils. Methods presented here are valuable for others investigating evolutionary potential in threatened species, particularly ones under significant selective pressures.
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|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9218385 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104474 | DOI Listing |
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