Dataset Information

Heterozygosity in an isolated population of a large mammal founded by four individuals is predicted by an individual-based genetic model.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Within-population genetic diversity is expected to be dramatically reduced if a population is founded by a low number of individuals. Three females and one male white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, a North American species, were successfully introduced in Finland in 1934 and the population has since been growing rapidly, but remained in complete isolation from other populations.

Methodology/principal findings

Based on 14 microsatellite loci, the expected heterozygosity H was 0.692 with a mean allelic richness (AR) of 5.36, which was significantly lower than what was found in Oklahoma, U.S.A. (H = 0.742; AR = 9.07), demonstrating that a bottleneck occurred. Observed H was in line with predictions from an individual-based model where the genealogy of the males and females in the population were tracked and the population's demography was included.

Conclusion

Our findings provide a rare within-population empirical test of the founder effect and suggest that founding a population by a small number of individuals need not have a dramatic impact on heterozygosity in an iteroparous species.

SUBMITTER: Kekkonen J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3447869 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Heterozygosity in an isolated population of a large mammal founded by four individuals is predicted by an individual-based genetic model.

Kekkonen Jaana J Wikström Mikael M Brommer Jon E JE

PloS one 20120920 9

<h4>Background</h4>Within-population genetic diversity is expected to be dramatically reduced if a population is founded by a low number of individuals. Three females and one male white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, a North American species, were successfully introduced in Finland in 1934 and the population has since been growing rapidly, but remained in complete isolation from other populations.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Based on 14 microsatellite loci, the expected heterozygo ...[more]

PMID: 23028456

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe population of the Faroe Islands is an isolated population but very little is known about it from whole genome sequencing. The population of about 50000 people has a high incidence of rare diseases e.g., 1:300 for Primary Carnitine Deficiency. A screening programme was implemented, and eleven persons were also whole genome sequenced at x37 coverage for diagnostic purposes of those cases that were not affected by the known mutations. The purpose of our study is to utilize the high coverage data to explore the genomic variation and the ancestral history of the population. We study the SNP heterozygosity, the pairwise relatedness from kinship, the inbreeding from runs of homozygosity ROH, and we find the minor allele frequency distribution. We estimate the population ancestry and the timing of the founding event by using the whole genomes from eight consenting individuals.ResultsWe find the number of SNPs and the heterozygosity for the eight individual samples, and for merged samples, for which we also study the relatedness. We find close relatedness between the supposedly unrelated individuals. From ROH, we interpret the high relatedness as an ancient property of the isolated population. A bottleneck event is estimated starting between years [Formula: see text] with a maximum consanguineous population in year [Formula: see text] and similarly consanguineous between years [Formula: see text]. The ancestry analysis shows the population descends from founders of [Formula: see text] European and [Formula: see text] Admixed American ancestry. A distinct clustering near the central European and British populations of the 1000 Genome Project is likely the result of the population isolation and genetic drift. The minor allele frequency distribution suggests many rare variants.ConclusionsThe ancestry is mainly European while the inbreeding is higher compared to European populations and population isolates. The Faroese population has inbreeding more like ancient Europeans. We discovered a bottlenecked and consanguineous population event and estimated it starting in the 1st-4th century as compared to the oldest archaeological findings from the 4th-6th century.

Dataset Information

Heterozygosity in an isolated population of a large mammal founded by four individuals is predicted by an individual-based genetic model.

Background

Methodology/principal findings

Conclusion

Publications

Heterozygosity in an isolated population of a large mammal founded by four individuals is predicted by an individual-based genetic model.

Similar Datasets

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