Genetic Diversity and Relatedness among Captive African Painted Dogs in North America.

Cassandra M Miller-Butterworth,Joseph C Gaspard,Karen Vacco,Amy L Russell

doi:10.3390/genes12101463

Cassandra M Miller-Butterworth, Joseph C Gaspard + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12101463

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Abstract

African painted dogs (Lycaon pictus, APD) are highly endangered, with fewer than 7000 remaining in nature. Captive breeding programs can preserve a genetically diverse population and provide a source of individuals for reintroductions. However, most programs are initiated from few founders and suffer from low genetic diversity and inbreeding. The aims of this study were to use molecular markers to assess genetic variation, inbreeding, and relatedness among APDs in the North American captive population, to use these data to realign studbook records, and to compare these data to wild populations and to the European captive population to facilitate the development of a global management plan. We sequenced mitochondrial and major histocompatibility (MHC) class II loci and genotyped 14 microsatellite loci from 109 APDs from 34 institutions in North America. We identified three likely studbook errors and resolved ten cases of uncertain paternity. Overall, microsatellite heterozygosity was higher than reported in Europe, but effective population size estimates were lower. Mitochondrial sequence variation was extremely limited, and there were fewer MHC haplotypes than in Europe or the wild. Although the population did not show evidence of significant inbreeding overall, several individuals shared high relatedness values, which should be incorporated into future breeding programs.

Highlights

To enable comparison with previous work [7,30,31,32], we examined three types of genetic markers used in these previous studies, namely (i) the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA D-loop control region I; (ii) exon 2 of the dog leucocyte antigen (DLA)-DRB1 major histocompatibility (MHC) class II locus, which has previously been shown to be variable in APD [32]; and (iii) 14 highly variable nuclear microsatellite loci, 10 of which were genotyped in the European APD population [18] and in wild populations [30]
Our analyses demonstrate the important role of direct genetic information in managing captive populations, with the goal of maximizing genetic diversity, minimizing inbreeding, and supplying individuals for reintroduction into the wild
Our analyses confirmed the majority of relationships described in the American Zoological Association (AZA) studbook, but documented significant skew in the reproductive contribution of founders, leading to high levels of inbreeding in some lineages and loss of founder diversity, at D-loop and MHC loci

Summary

Introduction

6600 adults, of which only 1400 are mature, i.e., capable of reproducing during any given breeding season, and their numbers are declining [1]. A total of 39 subpopulations remain, the largest of which together number fewer than 270 mature individuals [1]. Inbreeding and genetic drift in these small and isolated wild populations has led to loss of allelic richness and heterozygosity over time [7]. These wild populations remain under threat, and ensuring their sustainability in the long term will require continued legal protection as well as a variety of conservation measures, including translocations and reintroductions [8]

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