Conservation of genetic diversity in the Japanese Black cattle population by the construction of partially isolated lines

Abstract

In the Japanese Black cattle population, five genetically divergent sub-populations have played important roles as suppliers of breeding stocks to the entire breed. We supposed a situation where five lines were constructed from each of the five subpopulations, and applied to this set of lines a management plan to conserve genetic diversity. Assuming that the male migration pattern among the lines followed the island model, we assessed the optimum male migration rate and required male numbers in each line, satisfying the following three conditions simultaneously: (i) the rate of inbreeding in each line was below 0.01 per generation; (ii) at least 97% of the initial genetic diversity was preserved after 10 generations; and (iii) more than 50% of the genes in an initial line were retained in the line after 10 generations. We found that approximately one breeding male should be selected per year and one breeding male should be exchanged among the lines per generation in each line to satisfy these three conditions. Numerical analysis with the migration rates actually observed among the five subpopulations demonstrated that the initial genetic differentiation among the lines was rapidly decayed by an asymmetrical migration pattern. For a successful plan, migration among lines should be strictly managed.