Admixture Between Historically Isolated Mitochondrial Lineages in Captive Western Gorillas: Recommendations for Future Management

ABSTRACT: Although captive populations of western gorilla have been maintained in the United States for over a century, little is known about the geographic origins and genetic composition of the current zoo population. Furthermore, although previous mitochondrial analyses have shown that free-range gorilla populations exhibit substantial regional differentiation, nothing is known of the extent to which this variation has been preserved in captive populations. To address these questions, we combined 379 pedigree records with data from 52 mitochondrial sequences to infer individual haplogroup affiliations, geographical origin of wild founders and instances of inter-breeding between haplogroups in the United States captive gorilla population. We show that the current captive population contains all major mitochondrial lineages found within wild western lowland gorillas. Levels of haplotype diversity are also comparable to those found in wild populations. However, the majority of captive gorilla matings have occurred between individuals with different haplogroup affiliations. Although restricting crosses to individuals within the same haplogroup would preserve the phylogeographic structure present in the wild, careful management of captive populations is required to minimize the risk of drift and inbreeding. However, when captive animals are released back into the wild, we recommend that efforts should be made to preserve natural phylogeographic structure.

• Autores: Soto Calderón, Iván Darío; Dew, J. Larry; Bergl, Richard A.; Jensen Seaman, Michael; Anthony, Nicola
• Tipo de recurso: Article of investigation
• Fecha de publicación: 2015
• Institución: Universidad de Antioquia
• Repositorio: Repositorio UdeA
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:bibliotecadigital.udea.edu.co:10495/34491
• Acceso en línea: https://hdl.handle.net/10495/34491
• Palabra clave: Genome, Mitochondrial; Genoma Mitocondrial; Bayes Theorem; Teorema de Bayes; Genetic Variation; Variación Genética; Gorilla gorilla; Phylogeny; Filogenia; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Análisis de Secuencia de ADN; Animals, Zoo - genética; Animals, Zoo - genetics; Haplotypes; Haplotipos; Genetics, Population; Genética de Población; Conservation of Natural Resources; Conservación de los Recursos Naturales; Pedigree; Linaje
• Rights: openAccess
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/co/