Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)

Since the reintroduction of the Yellowstone Gray wolf (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park some 13 years ago, multiple diseases and parasites have been found to hamper the reintroduction effort. Tightly knit social formation within packs and behavioral patterns allow for parasites like the Sar...

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Main Author: Pompi, Quin
Other Authors: vonHoldt, Bridgett M.
Format: Bachelor Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp011j92gb07g
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spelling ftprincetonuniv:oai:dataspace.princeton.edu:88435/dsp011j92gb07g 2023-05-15T15:50:07+02:00 Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Pompi, Quin vonHoldt, Bridgett M. 2017-04-24 http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp011j92gb07g en_US eng http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp011j92gb07g Princeton University Senior Theses 2017 ftprincetonuniv 2022-04-10T20:59:25Z Since the reintroduction of the Yellowstone Gray wolf (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park some 13 years ago, multiple diseases and parasites have been found to hamper the reintroduction effort. Tightly knit social formation within packs and behavioral patterns allow for parasites like the Sarcoptes scabiei to easily sweep through the population. Recently, particular emphasis has been put on discovering the patterns to susceptibility to Sarcoptes scabiei, which is the root cause of sarcoptic mange. Current study shows that the population within Yellowstone appears to be highly variable with respect to the risk, severity, and duration of infection (Almberg et al. 2012). A study by Wu (2016) revealed several phenotypic/behavioral categories contribute to patterns of individuals having higher susceptibility to mange infection. This study expands upon previous studies by attempting to find a genetic pattern to susceptibility to mange. This was done by genotyping 163 individuals at 24 MHC loci. Also, the data was used to investigate the level of genetic diversity within YNP. Along with finding an extremely high level of genetic diversity at MHC loci, GLM analysis revealed that the heterozygote allele at ABCF1_DOWN1 locus may provide the individual that carries it with some type of increased fitness. Statistically, individuals that had the heterozygous form decreased their odds of having mange by 83%. It is suggested that this could display a heterozygote advantage, however, the locus appears to remain in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Possible reasons for the locus remaining in HWE could be due to the fact that selection for the heterozygote isn’t as strong because any lowered fitness within homozygotes may be mitigated by social aspects of group living. Other selection factors such as evolutionary time and the possibility that selection doesn’t act on the entire population are discussed as possible explanations for this observation. Bachelor Thesis Canis lupus gray wolf DataSpace at Princeton University Almberg ENVELOPE(9.133,9.133,63.050,63.050)
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collection DataSpace at Princeton University
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language English
description Since the reintroduction of the Yellowstone Gray wolf (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park some 13 years ago, multiple diseases and parasites have been found to hamper the reintroduction effort. Tightly knit social formation within packs and behavioral patterns allow for parasites like the Sarcoptes scabiei to easily sweep through the population. Recently, particular emphasis has been put on discovering the patterns to susceptibility to Sarcoptes scabiei, which is the root cause of sarcoptic mange. Current study shows that the population within Yellowstone appears to be highly variable with respect to the risk, severity, and duration of infection (Almberg et al. 2012). A study by Wu (2016) revealed several phenotypic/behavioral categories contribute to patterns of individuals having higher susceptibility to mange infection. This study expands upon previous studies by attempting to find a genetic pattern to susceptibility to mange. This was done by genotyping 163 individuals at 24 MHC loci. Also, the data was used to investigate the level of genetic diversity within YNP. Along with finding an extremely high level of genetic diversity at MHC loci, GLM analysis revealed that the heterozygote allele at ABCF1_DOWN1 locus may provide the individual that carries it with some type of increased fitness. Statistically, individuals that had the heterozygous form decreased their odds of having mange by 83%. It is suggested that this could display a heterozygote advantage, however, the locus appears to remain in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Possible reasons for the locus remaining in HWE could be due to the fact that selection for the heterozygote isn’t as strong because any lowered fitness within homozygotes may be mitigated by social aspects of group living. Other selection factors such as evolutionary time and the possibility that selection doesn’t act on the entire population are discussed as possible explanations for this observation.
author2 vonHoldt, Bridgett M.
format Bachelor Thesis
author Pompi, Quin
spellingShingle Pompi, Quin
Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
author_facet Pompi, Quin
author_sort Pompi, Quin
title Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
title_short Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
title_full Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
title_fullStr Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
title_full_unstemmed Studying the Correlation Between MHC Microsatellites and Susceptibility to Mange in the Yellowstone Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
title_sort studying the correlation between mhc microsatellites and susceptibility to mange in the yellowstone gray wolf (canis lupus)
publishDate 2017
url http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp011j92gb07g
long_lat ENVELOPE(9.133,9.133,63.050,63.050)
geographic Almberg
geographic_facet Almberg
genre Canis lupus
gray wolf
genre_facet Canis lupus
gray wolf
op_relation http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp011j92gb07g
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