PSVIII-23 High-density SNP marker based genetic diversity and population structure study of reindeer populations

• Published in: Journal of Animal Science
• Main Authors: Kharzinova, Veronika R, Dotsev, Arsen V, Solovieva, Anastasiya, Wimmers, Klaus, Reyer, Henry, Brem, Gottfried, Zinovieva, Natalia A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2019
• Subjects: Genetics; Animal Science and Zoology; General Medicine; Food Science; Sundrun; taiga; Taimyr; Taymyr; Tundra; Yakut; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jas/skz258.540; http://academic.oup.com/jas/article-pdf/97/Supplement_3/265/31254740/skz258.540.pdf

Abstract Wild reindeer populations form the basis of the traditional activities of indigenous peoples of the northern territories of Siberia, the main part of which is concentrated in two large regions: Taimyr and Northern Yakutia. Currently, there is a sharp decline in the number of wild reindeer, which leads to a loss of the genetic diversity necessary for survival in the changing habitat conditions. To infer the population structure and genome-wide diversity of wild reindeer, the Taymyr (TAI, n = 33) and Yakut populations including Tundra Leno-Olenek (LNO, n = 20), the Island (ISL, n = 6), the Sundrun (SUN, n = 6) and the Taiga (TGA, n = 5) were genotyped with the Illumina Bovine HD BeadChip. Data set consisting of 8801 polymorphic SNP markers was used to calculate population genetic parameters in PLINK 1.9, SplitsTree 4.14.6. software, R packages “diveRsity” and “StAMMP.” We detected the similar level of observed heterozygosity across the TAI, ISL, SUN and LNO: 0.187, 0.188, 0.184, and 0.189 respectively. Meanwhile, allelic richness was slightly higher in Taimyr population compared to the Yakut groups. The lowest level of genetic diversity was recorded in the Taiga reindeer (Ho=0.168; Ar = 1.476). All populations showed heterozygotes deficiency (uFIS 95%, CI > 0) with higher uFIS values in TGA (0.079). MDS analysis revealed the high level of genetic similarity of TAI, ISL and LNO and placed SUN in close proximity to them. The first and the second MDS components (2.36% and 2.15% of the genetic variability) clearly divided the Taiga reindeer, the genetic apartness of which was also confirmed by the results of the Neighbour-Net tree analysis. Information obtained here, might be helpful for further effective use and maintenance of the reindeer populations as well as for overcoming the negative effects of decreasing their number. The study was supported by Russian Science Foundation within Pr. no. 16-16-10068.