NEWS AND VIEWS COMMENT Heterozygosity of the Yellowstone wolves

• Main Authors: Ivana Jankovic, Bridgett M, Noah A. Rosenberg
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.380.1204; http://www.stanford.edu/group/rosenberglab/papers/JankovicEtAl2010-MolEcol.pdf

In a recent study, vonHoldt et al. (2008) examined the success of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) re-introduction programme into Yellowstone National Park in preserving the genetic variation of the population. They evaluated a variety of aspects of genetic diversity in the wolf population, which originated from 41 founders introduced in 1995 and 1996 and which has remained genetically isolated since the reintroduction. In each of a large number of individuals sampled during the initial recovery period, 1995–2004, von-Holdt et al. (2008) genotyped 26 microsatellite loci. Their analyses, which included estimates of mean observed and expected heterozygosity (HO and HE, respectively), generally indicated that this isolated wolf population is effective at inbreeding avoidance and maintenance of genetic diversity. However, some aspects of their genetic variation analyses