Genetic evidence of inbreeding avoidance in pronghorn

There is ample evidence that inbreeding, or mating between relatives, can lead to increased homozygosity and decreased fitness. However, some animals have evolved mechanisms to avoid inbreeding. In a previous study of the National Bison Range, Montana, pronghorn Antilocapra americana, we detected mo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of zoology (1987) 2012-10, Vol.288 (2), p.119-126
Main Authors: Dunn, S. J., Clancey, E., Waits, L. P., Byers, J. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Antilocapra americana
Bison
bottleneck
coancestry
Genetics
Inbreeding
inbreeding depression
Mammals
mate choice
mating system
microsatellite
pedigree
relatedness
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:There is ample evidence that inbreeding, or mating between relatives, can lead to increased homozygosity and decreased fitness. However, some animals have evolved mechanisms to avoid inbreeding. In a previous study of the National Bison Range, Montana, pronghorn Antilocapra americana, we detected moderate levels of inbreeding, as well as inbreeding depression, following a bottleneck. Here, we evaluated whether there was genetic evidence of inbreeding avoidance in pronghorn. We found that females were more related to all males in the population than they were to their mates, suggesting that pronghorn can avoid inbreeding. However, relatedness between females and the males they sampled prior to estrus did not differ from relatedness between females and all males, nor from relatedness between females and their mates. Inbreeding avoidance appears to occur during the female estrus period rather than during the female mate sampling period. Further work is needed to discover the sensory cues that female pronghorn use to avoid mating with relatives.
ISSN:0952-8369
1469-7998
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2012.00932.x