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Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale

Although small populations are expected to lose genetic diversity through genetic drift and inbreeding, a number of mechanisms exist that could minimize this genetic decline. Examples include mate choice for unrelated mates and fertilization patterns biased toward genetically dissimilar gametes. Bot...

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Autores principales: Frasier, T R, Gillett, R M, Hamilton, P K, Brown, M W, Kraus, S D, White, B N
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24223284
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.738
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author Frasier, T R
Gillett, R M
Hamilton, P K
Brown, M W
Kraus, S D
White, B N
author_facet Frasier, T R
Gillett, R M
Hamilton, P K
Brown, M W
Kraus, S D
White, B N
author_sort Frasier, T R
collection PubMed
description Although small populations are expected to lose genetic diversity through genetic drift and inbreeding, a number of mechanisms exist that could minimize this genetic decline. Examples include mate choice for unrelated mates and fertilization patterns biased toward genetically dissimilar gametes. Both processes have been widely documented, but the long-term implications have received little attention. Here, we combined over 25 years of field data with high-resolution genetic data to assess the long-term impacts of biased fertilization patterns in the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Offspring have higher levels of microsatellite heterozygosity than expected from this gene pool (effect size = 0.326, P < 0.011). This pattern is not due to precopulatory mate choice for genetically dissimilar mates (P < 0.600), but instead results from postcopulatory selection for gametes that are genetically dissimilar (effect size = 0.37, P < 0.003). The long-term implication is that heterozygosity has slowly increased in calves born throughout the study period, as opposed to the slight decline that was expected. Therefore, this mechanism represents a natural means through which small populations can mitigate the loss of genetic diversity over time.
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spelling pubmed-37974932013-11-12 Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale Frasier, T R Gillett, R M Hamilton, P K Brown, M W Kraus, S D White, B N Ecol Evol Original Research Although small populations are expected to lose genetic diversity through genetic drift and inbreeding, a number of mechanisms exist that could minimize this genetic decline. Examples include mate choice for unrelated mates and fertilization patterns biased toward genetically dissimilar gametes. Both processes have been widely documented, but the long-term implications have received little attention. Here, we combined over 25 years of field data with high-resolution genetic data to assess the long-term impacts of biased fertilization patterns in the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Offspring have higher levels of microsatellite heterozygosity than expected from this gene pool (effect size = 0.326, P < 0.011). This pattern is not due to precopulatory mate choice for genetically dissimilar mates (P < 0.600), but instead results from postcopulatory selection for gametes that are genetically dissimilar (effect size = 0.37, P < 0.003). The long-term implication is that heterozygosity has slowly increased in calves born throughout the study period, as opposed to the slight decline that was expected. Therefore, this mechanism represents a natural means through which small populations can mitigate the loss of genetic diversity over time. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013-09 2013-08-28 /pmc/articles/PMC3797493/ /pubmed/24223284 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.738 Text en © 2013 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.
spellingShingle Original Research
Frasier, T R
Gillett, R M
Hamilton, P K
Brown, M W
Kraus, S D
White, B N
Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale
title Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale
title_full Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale
title_fullStr Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale
title_full_unstemmed Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale
title_short Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale
title_sort postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered north atlantic right whale
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24223284
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.738
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