Evidence for African origins of founders of the asiatic lion species survival plan

O’Brien, Stephen J.; Joslin, Paul; Smith, Geoffrey L.; Wolfe, R. Kirby; Schaffer, N.; Heath, E.; Ott‐Joslin, Janis E.; Rawal, Prakhar; Bhattacharjee, Kanta; Martenson, Janice S.

doi:10.1002/zoo.1430060202

Cited by 47 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…In contrast, an isolated relict population of 250 Asiatic lions living in the Gir Forest Sanctuary in eastern India were genetically uniform in allozymes, MHC-RFLP, minisatellites, and mtDNA diversity, signaling an extreme and more recent demographic reduction than for cheetahs (O'Brien et al 1987a;Wildt et al 1987;Gilbert et al 1991). We have speculated that the Gir lion genetic depletion occurred as a consequence of human depredation by hunting in the late nineteenth century (O'Brien et al 1987a;Wildt et al 1987). The isolated Ngorongoro Crater lion population in East Africa is descended from 12 founders who survived a population crash caused by a Stomoxys (biting fly) epidemic in 1962 (Packer et al 1991b).…”

Section: Results and Discussion Population History In Three Felidae Smentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Taken together, the geologic and genomic results indicate that island separation of Gir lions until 4000-5000 yr ago reduced ancestral variation appreciably, leading to observed phenotypic correlates of inbreeding, such as low sperm count, low-testosterone, highly malformed spermatozoa, belly fold, reduced mane size, and paired infra-orbital foramen (O'Brien et al 1987a;Wildt et al 1987). Genetically homogenized microsatellite loci accumulated new alleles gradually as the population expanded, but were reduced to a discontinuous distribution by the more recent founder effect (Fig.…”

Section: Genome Research 417mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Pedigrees of lion and cheetah groups were based on direct field observation (Marker and O'Brien 1989;Packer et al 1991 a,b) and DNA fingerprints (Gilbert et al 1991;Menotti-Raymond and O'Brien 1993;Roelke et al 1993); studbook records (Smith 1985;Marker and O'Brien 1989) of wild-caught zoo animals were used in the case of the Asiatic lion representatives. Selection of Gir lions included founder lions from the Sakkarbaug Zoo Asiatic lion pedigree (O'Brien et al 1987a) plus five half-sibs, reducing the genetic equivalent number of individuals to six. Except for the Big Cypress Swamp population, puma samples were assembled from presumably unrelated material collected over several years.…”

Section: Methods Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The cheetah's natural history and molecular genetic data are particularly useful in assessing the reconstitution of microsat- O'Brien et al 1985;O'Brien et al 1987a;Wildt et al 1987;Roelke 1993. c Yuhki and O'Brien 1990.…”

Section: Microsatellite Reconstitution In Cheetahsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomic Microsatellites as Evolutionary Chronometers: A Test in Wild Cats

Driscoll

Menotti‐Raymond²,

Nelson³

et al. 2002

Genome Res.

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Nuclear microsatellite loci (2-to 5-bp tandem repeats) would seem to be ideal markers for population genetic monitoring because of their abundant polymorphism, wide dispersal in vertebrate genomes, near selective neutrality, and ease of assessment; however, questions about their mode of generation, mutation rates and ascertainment bias have limited interpretation considerably. We have assessed the patterns of genomic diversity for ninety feline microsatellite loci among previously characterized populations of cheetahs, lions and pumas in recapitulating demographic history. The results imply that the microsatellite diversity measures (heterozygosity, allele reconstitution and microsatellite allele variance) offer proportionate indicators, albeit with large variance, of historic population bottlenecks and founder effects. The observed rate of reconstruction of new alleles plus the growth in the breadth of microsatellite allele size (variance) was used here to develop genomic estimates of time intervals following historic founder events in cheetahs (12,000 yr ago), in North American pumas (10,000-17,000 yr ago), and in Asiatic lions of the Gir Forest (1000-4000 yr ago).[Supplemental material available online at http://rex.nci.nih.gov/lgd/front_page.htm and at http://www.genome. org.]Microsatellite loci are 2-to 5-bp tandem repeats that are abundant (estimated at 100,000-200,000) and dispersed nearly randomly in all eukaryotic genomes. Their high mutability, owing to DNA slippage during replication and estimated variously at 6 ‫ן‬ 10 ‫5מ‬ to 2.1 ‫ן‬ 10 3 among mammals (Dallas 1992; de la Edwards et al. 1992a;Weber and Wong 1993;Ellegren 1995;Heyer et al. 1997; Kayser and Sajantila 2000;2001), leads to the accumulation of new alleles in populations, providing invaluable markers for genetic individualization, parentage assessment, gene mapping, and population monitors of genetic diversity. Their genomic abundance, conservation of their distinctive flanking sequence across closely related species, apparent selective neutrality, and high heterozygosity contribute to their utility in detecting historic demographic events in natural populations (Goldstein and Schlotterer 1999).We examined the extent and character of variation using 90 feline-specific microsatellite loci in well-described populations of three free-living species of Felidae: cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), lions (Panthera pardus), and pumas (Puma concolor) (O'Brien 1994). Populations were selected because previous studies with multiple molecular genetic markers had indicated that historic bottlenecks had reduced overall genetic variation in certain populations (Table 1). Our analysis had four aims: 1) to determine the ability of a large sampling of microsatellites to detect historic population reductions, 2) to use previously dated demographic contractions to calibrate empirically the approximate rate and patterns of microsatellite allele reconstitution following genetic homogenization, 3) to apply the calibration to estimate the time elapsed since imputed p...

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Section: Results and Discussion Population History In Three Felidae Smentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Genome Research 417mentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Methods Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Microsatellite Reconstitution In Cheetahsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Genomic Microsatellites as Evolutionary Chronometers: A Test in Wild Cats

Driscoll

Menotti‐Raymond²,

Nelson³

et al. 2002

Genome Res.

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show abstract

“…We also obtained samples from a group of lions originating from the Gir Forest Sanctuary located in the Gujarat Province of western India. These Asian lions, which show several morphological distinctions from their African counterparts, are a relict group of 250 individuals that also experienced a severe population contraction (to <20 animals) in the first quarter ofthis century due to hunting exploitation (47).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A role for molecular genetics in biological conservation.

O’Brien

1994

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

208

150

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Genetic variation in Asiatic lions and Indian tigers

et al. 1997

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Previous reports have suggested that Asiatic lions and tigers are highly inbred and exhibit very low levels of genetic variation. Our analyses on these species have shown much higher degrees of polymorphism than reported. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of 38 Asiatic lions, which exist as a single population in the Gir Forest Sanctuary in India, shows an average heterozygosity of 25.82% with four primers. Sperm motility studies by our colleagues corroborate this data. In Indian tigers, microsatellite analysis of five CA repeat loci and multilocus fingerprinting using Bkm 2(8) probe on a population of 22 individuals revealed a heterozygosity of 22.65%. Microsatellite analysis of loci Fca 77 and Fca 126 revealed polymorphism amongst the Asiatic x African lion hybrids, which has enabled us to use these as markers to discriminate the pure Asiatic lions from the hybrids. A similar analysis was used to identify hybrids of Indian and Siberian tigers through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of hair samples. To ascertain the variation which existed before the population bottleneck at the turn of the present century, microsatellite analysis was performed on 50- to 125-year-old skin samples from museum specimens. Our results show similar levels of genetic variability as in the present population (21.01%). This suggests that low genetic variability may be the characteristic feature of these species and not the result of intensive inbreeding. DNA fingerprinting studies of Asiatic lions and tigers have helped in identifying individuals with high genetic variability which can be used for conservation breeding programs.

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Evidence for African origins of founders of the asiatic lion species survival plan

Cited by 47 publications

References 20 publications

Genomic Microsatellites as Evolutionary Chronometers: A Test in Wild Cats

Genomic Microsatellites as Evolutionary Chronometers: A Test in Wild Cats

A role for molecular genetics in biological conservation.

Genetic variation in Asiatic lions and Indian tigers

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