We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Conservation implications of limited genetic diversity and population structure in Tasmanian devils ( Sarcophilus harrisii).
- Authors
Hendricks, Sarah; Epstein, Brendan; Schönfeld, Barbara; Wiench, Cody; Hamede, Rodrigo; Jones, Menna; Storfer, Andrew; Hohenlohe, Paul
- Abstract
Tasmanian devils face a combination of threats to persistence, including devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), an epidemic transmissible cancer. We used RAD sequencing to investigate genome-wide patterns of genetic diversity and geographic population structure. Consistent with previous results, we found very low genetic diversity in the species as a whole, and we detected two broad genetic clusters occupying the northwestern portion of the range, and the central and eastern portions. However, these two groups overlap across a broad geographic area, and differentiation between them is modest ( $${{F}_{\text{ST}}}$$ = 0.1081). Our results refine the geographic extent of the zone of mixed ancestry and substructure within it, potentially informing management of genetic variation that existed in pre-diseased populations of the species. DFTD has spread across both genetic clusters, but recent evidence points to a genomic response to selection imposed by DFTD. Any allelic variation for resistance to DFTD may be able to spread across the devil population under selection by DFTD, and/or be present as standing variation in both genetic regions.
- Subjects
TASMANIAN devil; POPULATION genetics; DEVIL facial tumor disease; GENOMES; TRANSMISSIBLE tumors
- Publication
Conservation Genetics, 2017, Vol 18, Issue 4, p977
- ISSN
1566-0621
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10592-017-0939-5