Discovery notes

Depauperate genetic variability detected in the American and European bison using genomic techniques

Cino Pertoldi^1,2 , Małgorzata Tokarska¹ , Jan M Wójcik¹ , Ditte Demontis² , Volker Loeschcke² , Vivi R Gregersen³ , David Coltman⁴ , Gregory A Wilson^4,5 , Ettore Randi⁶ , Michael M Hansen² and Christian Bendixen³

¹  Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Waszkiewicza 1c, 17-230 Białowieża, Poland

²  Department of Biological Sciences, Ecology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade, Building 1540, 8000 Århus C, Denmark

³  Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aarhus University, PO Box 50, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark

⁴  Department of Biological Science, University of Alberta, Ctr Biol Sci, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada

⁵  Canadian Wildlife Service, 200, 4999 - 98 Ave, Edmonton, AB T6B 2X3, Canada

⁶  Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, via Cá Fornacetta 9, I-40064, Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italy

author email corresponding author email

Biology Direct 2009, 4:48doi:10.1186/1745-6150-4-48

Published:	8 December 2009

Abstract

A total of 929 polymorphic SNPs in EB (out of 54, 000 SNPs screened using a BovineSNP50 Illumina Genotyping BeadChip), and 1, 524 and 1, 403 polymorphic SNPs in WB and PB, respectively, were analysed. EB, WB and PB have all undergone recent drastic reductions in population size. Accordingly, they exhibited extremely depauperate genomes, deviations from genetic equilibrium and a genome organization consisting of a mosaic of haplotype blocks: regions with low haplotype diversity and high levels of linkage disequilibrium. No evidence for positive or stabilizing selection was found in EB, WB and PB, likely reflecting drift overwhelming selection. We suggest that utilization of genome-wide screening technologies, followed by utilization of less expensive techniques (e.g. VeraCode and Fluidigm EP1), holds large potential for genetic monitoring of populations. Additionally, these techniques will allow radical improvements of breeding practices in captive or managed populations, otherwise hampered by the limited availability of polymorphic markers. This result in improved possibilities for 1) estimating genetic relationships among individuals and 2) designing breeding strategies which attempt to preserve or reduce polymorphism in ecologically relevant genes and/or entire blocks.

Reviewers

This article was reviewed by: Fyodor Kondrashov and Shamil Sunyaev