Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale
Abstract Although small populations are expected to lose genetic diversity through genetic drift and inbreeding, a number of mechanisms exist that could minimize this genetic decline. Examples include mate choice for unrelated mates and fertilization patterns biased toward genetically dissimilar gam...
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crwiley:10.1002/ece3.738 2024-09-15T18:22:10+00:00 Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale Frasier, T. R. Gillett, R. M. Hamilton, P. K. Brown, M. W. Kraus, S. D. White, B. N. 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.738 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fece3.738 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.738 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Ecology and Evolution volume 3, issue 10, page 3483-3494 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 journal-article 2013 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.738 2024-08-01T04:19:00Z Abstract Although small populations are expected to lose genetic diversity through genetic drift and inbreeding, a number of mechanisms exist that could minimize this genetic decline. Examples include mate choice for unrelated mates and fertilization patterns biased toward genetically dissimilar gametes. Both processes have been widely documented, but the long‐term implications have received little attention. Here, we combined over 25 years of field data with high‐resolution genetic data to assess the long‐term impacts of biased fertilization patterns in the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Offspring have higher levels of microsatellite heterozygosity than expected from this gene pool (effect size = 0.326, P < 0.011). This pattern is not due to precopulatory mate choice for genetically dissimilar mates ( P < 0.600), but instead results from postcopulatory selection for gametes that are genetically dissimilar (effect size = 0.37, P < 0.003). The long‐term implication is that heterozygosity has slowly increased in calves born throughout the study period, as opposed to the slight decline that was expected. Therefore, this mechanism represents a natural means through which small populations can mitigate the loss of genetic diversity over time. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Wiley Online Library Ecology and Evolution n/a n/a |
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Wiley Online Library |
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description |
Abstract Although small populations are expected to lose genetic diversity through genetic drift and inbreeding, a number of mechanisms exist that could minimize this genetic decline. Examples include mate choice for unrelated mates and fertilization patterns biased toward genetically dissimilar gametes. Both processes have been widely documented, but the long‐term implications have received little attention. Here, we combined over 25 years of field data with high‐resolution genetic data to assess the long‐term impacts of biased fertilization patterns in the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Offspring have higher levels of microsatellite heterozygosity than expected from this gene pool (effect size = 0.326, P < 0.011). This pattern is not due to precopulatory mate choice for genetically dissimilar mates ( P < 0.600), but instead results from postcopulatory selection for gametes that are genetically dissimilar (effect size = 0.37, P < 0.003). The long‐term implication is that heterozygosity has slowly increased in calves born throughout the study period, as opposed to the slight decline that was expected. Therefore, this mechanism represents a natural means through which small populations can mitigate the loss of genetic diversity over time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frasier, T. R. Gillett, R. M. Hamilton, P. K. Brown, M. W. Kraus, S. D. White, B. N. |
spellingShingle |
Frasier, T. R. Gillett, R. M. Hamilton, P. K. Brown, M. W. Kraus, S. D. White, B. N. Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
author_facet |
Frasier, T. R. Gillett, R. M. Hamilton, P. K. Brown, M. W. Kraus, S. D. White, B. N. |
author_sort |
Frasier, T. R. |
title |
Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_short |
Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_full |
Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_fullStr |
Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_full_unstemmed |
Postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_sort |
postcopulatory selection for dissimilar gametes maintains heterozygosity in the endangered north atlantic right whale |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.738 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fece3.738 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.738 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution volume 3, issue 10, page 3483-3494 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.738 |
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Ecology and Evolution |
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1810461612204621824 |