Abstract
Information about relatedness between individuals in wild populations is advantageous when studying evolutionary, behavioural and ecological processes. Genomic data can be used to determine relatedness between individuals either when no prior knowledge exists or to confirm suspected relatedness. Here we present a set of 96 SNPs suitable for inferring relatedness for brown bears (Ursus arctos) within Scandinavia. We sequenced reduced representation libraries from nine individuals throughout the geographic range. With consensus reads containing putative SNPs, we applied strict filtering criteria with the aim of finding only high-quality, highly-informative SNPs. We tested 150 putative SNPs of which 96% were validated on a panel of 68 individuals. Ninety-six of the validated SNPs with the highest minor allele frequency were selected. The final SNP panel includes four mitochondrial markers, two monomorphic Y-chromosome sex-determination markers, three X-chromosome SNPs and 87 autosomal SNPs. From our validation sample panel, we identified two previously known parent-offspring dyads with reasonable accuracy. This panel of SNPs is a promising tool for inferring relatedness in the brown bear population in Scandinavia.
Highlights
Genomic data are useful for understanding wild populations, for wide-ranging and elusive species like the brown bear (Ursus arctos)
We developed de novo a set of 96 high quality SNPs by applying an next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based representation libraries approach (RRL) approach with an ascertainment panel of brown bears across the geographic range in Scandinavia
We present a new panel of 96 SNPs suitable for assaying the Scandinavian brown bear for relatedness and other ecological and evolutionary analyses
Summary
Genomic data are useful for understanding wild populations, for wide-ranging and elusive species like the brown bear (Ursus arctos). Genomic markers can help determine genetic relatedness between individuals in a population, which is key for determining many evolutionary, behavioural or ecological processes [1]. Maternity can often be reliably inferred based on behavioural patterns alone (cf [2]), assigning paternity is typically more problematic. This is the case for some species that appear to have a monogamous mating system when observed in the wild, yet genetic analyses reveal extra-pair paternity as being common [3]. The use of high quality genomic markers can enhance our understanding of biological processes in wild systems as shown by relatedness studies on Ursus species The use of high quality genomic markers can enhance our understanding of biological processes in wild systems as shown by relatedness studies on Ursus species (e.g. [9,10,11,12])
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