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

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.

Analysis of Family Structure and Paternity Test of Tan Sheep in Yanchi Area, China

“…Several studies [ 23 , 24 , 25 ] have paid attention to pedigree construction by genetic relationship and genetic distance between individuals. In fact, paternity tests can also supply part of the pedigree and solve the uncertain parent–child relationship in the population [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Here, we combined the two methods to construct a family, and further added paternity tests to correct the pedigrees of individuals.…”

Special Issue: “Canine Genetics 2”

“…The African painted dog (Lycaon pictus) is a highly endangered wild canid species. Miller-Butterworth et al investigated the genetic diversity in the captive population of North American zoos to provide a basis for the future breeding management and conservation of this iconic species [28].…”

Evaluation of the Impact of Population Management on the Genetic Parameters of Selected Spiral-Horned Antelopes

“…The "percentage genetic diversity loss", which is a pedigreebased parameter commonly used to evaluate the success of conservation programs, may be misleading in cases where an originally diverse population experiences a higher percentage genetic diversity loss but retains higher absolute genetic variation than a population losing less diversity but from a less variable starting point [33]. Consequently, the inclusion of molecular data into captive management is recommended to enhance the accuracy of pedigree information [30,[33][34][35][36]. In addition, molecular data might be used for the comparison of captive populations with their wild counterparts in order to assess how well the captive breeding programs represent total species diversity [23].…”