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Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations

Small and isolated populations often exhibit low genetic diversity due to drift and inbreeding, but may simultaneously harbour adaptive variation. We investigate spatial distributions of immunogenetic variation in American badger subspecies (Taxidea taxus), as a proxy for evaluating their evolutiona...

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Autores principales: Rico, Yessica, Ethier, Danielle M., Davy, Christina M., Sayers, Josh, Weir, Richard D., Swanson, Bradley J., Nocera, Joseph J., Kyle, Christopher J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5108218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27877205
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.12410
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author Rico, Yessica
Ethier, Danielle M.
Davy, Christina M.
Sayers, Josh
Weir, Richard D.
Swanson, Bradley J.
Nocera, Joseph J.
Kyle, Christopher J.
author_facet Rico, Yessica
Ethier, Danielle M.
Davy, Christina M.
Sayers, Josh
Weir, Richard D.
Swanson, Bradley J.
Nocera, Joseph J.
Kyle, Christopher J.
author_sort Rico, Yessica
collection PubMed
description Small and isolated populations often exhibit low genetic diversity due to drift and inbreeding, but may simultaneously harbour adaptive variation. We investigate spatial distributions of immunogenetic variation in American badger subspecies (Taxidea taxus), as a proxy for evaluating their evolutionary potential across the northern extent of the species’ range. We compared genetic structure of 20 microsatellites and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC DRB exon 2) to evaluate whether small, isolated populations show low adaptive polymorphism relative to large and well‐connected populations. Our results suggest that gene flow plays a prominent role in shaping MHC polymorphism across large spatial scales, while the interplay between gene flow and selection was stronger towards the northern peripheries. The similarity of MHC alleles within subspecies relative to their neutral genetic differentiation suggests that adaptive divergence among subspecies can be maintained despite ongoing gene flow along subspecies boundaries. Neutral genetic diversity was low in small relative to large populations, but MHC diversity within individuals was high in small populations. Despite reduced neutral genetic variation, small and isolated populations harbour functional variation that likely contribute to the species evolutionary potential at the northern range. Our findings suggest that conservation approaches should focus on managing adaptive variation across the species range rather than protecting subspecies per se.
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spelling pubmed-51082182016-11-22 Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations Rico, Yessica Ethier, Danielle M. Davy, Christina M. Sayers, Josh Weir, Richard D. Swanson, Bradley J. Nocera, Joseph J. Kyle, Christopher J. Evol Appl Original Articles Small and isolated populations often exhibit low genetic diversity due to drift and inbreeding, but may simultaneously harbour adaptive variation. We investigate spatial distributions of immunogenetic variation in American badger subspecies (Taxidea taxus), as a proxy for evaluating their evolutionary potential across the northern extent of the species’ range. We compared genetic structure of 20 microsatellites and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC DRB exon 2) to evaluate whether small, isolated populations show low adaptive polymorphism relative to large and well‐connected populations. Our results suggest that gene flow plays a prominent role in shaping MHC polymorphism across large spatial scales, while the interplay between gene flow and selection was stronger towards the northern peripheries. The similarity of MHC alleles within subspecies relative to their neutral genetic differentiation suggests that adaptive divergence among subspecies can be maintained despite ongoing gene flow along subspecies boundaries. Neutral genetic diversity was low in small relative to large populations, but MHC diversity within individuals was high in small populations. Despite reduced neutral genetic variation, small and isolated populations harbour functional variation that likely contribute to the species evolutionary potential at the northern range. Our findings suggest that conservation approaches should focus on managing adaptive variation across the species range rather than protecting subspecies per se. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-08-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5108218/ /pubmed/27877205 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.12410 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Rico, Yessica
Ethier, Danielle M.
Davy, Christina M.
Sayers, Josh
Weir, Richard D.
Swanson, Bradley J.
Nocera, Joseph J.
Kyle, Christopher J.
Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations
title Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations
title_full Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations
title_fullStr Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations
title_full_unstemmed Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations
title_short Spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated American badger populations
title_sort spatial patterns of immunogenetic and neutral variation underscore the conservation value of small, isolated american badger populations
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5108218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27877205
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.12410
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