Preprint
Genomic consequences of isolation and inbreeding in an island dingo population
bioRxiv, Vol.15 September 2023
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
2023
PMCID: PMC10516007
PMID: 37745583
Abstract
Dingoes come from an ancient canid lineage that originated in East Asia around 8000-11,000 years BP. As Australia's largest terrestrial predator, dingoes play an important ecological role. A small, protected population exists on a world heritage listed offshore island, K'gari (formerly Fraser Island). Concern regarding the persistence of dingoes on K'gari has risen due to their low genetic diversity and elevated inbreeding levels. However, whole-genome sequencing data is lacking from this population. Here, we include five new whole-genome sequences of K'gari dingoes. We analyze a total of 18 whole genome sequences of dingoes sampled from mainland Australia and K'gari to assess the genomic consequences of their demographic histories. Long (>1 Mb) runs of homozygosity (ROH) - indicators of inbreeding - are elevated in all sampled dingoes. However, K'gari dingoes showed significantly higher levels of very long ROH (>5 Mb), providing genomic evidence for small population size, isolation, inbreeding, and a strong founder effect. Our results suggest that, despite current levels of inbreeding, the K'gari population is purging strongly deleterious mutations, which, in the absence of further reductions in population size, may facilitate the persistence of small populations despite low genetic diversity and isolation. However, there may be little to no purging of mildly deleterious alleles, which may have important long-term consequences, and should be considered by conservation and management programs.
Details
- Title
- Genomic consequences of isolation and inbreeding in an island dingo population
- Authors
- Ana V Leon-Apodaca - Pennsylvania State UniversityManoharan Kumar - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringAndres Del Castillo - Pennsylvania State UniversityGabriel C Conroy - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringRobert W Lamont - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringSteven Ogbourne - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for BioinnovationKylie M Cairns - UNSW SydneyLiz Borburgh - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringLinda Behrendorff - The University of QueenslandSankar Subramanian - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringZachary A Szpiech (Corresponding Author) - Pennsylvania State University
- Publication details
- bioRxiv, Vol.15 September 2023
- Publisher
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1101/2023.09.15.557950
- ISSN
- 2692-8205
- PMID
- 37745583; PMC10516007
- Copyright note
- The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
- Data Availability
- Raw sequence data of each of the K’gari dingo genomes generated in this study are available on SRA under project XXXX (TBD).
- Grant note
- R35 GM146926 / NIGMS NIH HHS
- Organisation Unit
- GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991022994902621
- Output Type
- Preprint
Metrics
213 Record Views