Mixing genetically and morphologically distinct populations in translocations: Asymmetrical introgression in a newly established population of the boodie (Bettongia lesueur)

Authors

Rujiporn Thavornkanlapachai
Harriet R. Mills, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Kym Ottewell
Judy Dunlop
Colleen Sims
Keith Morris
Felicity Donaldson
W. Jason Kennington

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Genes

Publisher

MDPI

School

Centre for Ecosystem Management / School of Science

RAS ID

31323

Funders

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions

University of Western Australia

Comments

Thavornkanlapachai, R., Mills, H. R., Ottewell, K., Dunlop, J., Sims, C., Morris, K., ... Kennington, W. J. (2019). Mixing genetically and morphologically distinct populations in translocations: Asymmetrical introgression in a newly established population of the boodie (Bettongia lesueur). Genes, 10(9), 729. Available here

Abstract

The use of multiple source populations provides a way to maximise genetic variation and reduce the impacts of inbreeding depression in newly established translocated populations. However, there is a risk that individuals from different source populations will not interbreed, leading to population structure and smaller effective population sizes than expected. Here, we investigate the genetic consequences of mixing two isolated, morphologically distinct island populations of boodies (Bettongia lesueur) in a translocation to mainland Australia over three generations. Using 18 microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial D-loop region, we monitored the released animals and their offspring between 2010 and 2013. Despite high levels of divergence between the two source populations (F_ST = 0.42 and ϕ_ST = 0.72), there was clear evidence of interbreeding between animals from different populations. However, interbreeding was non-random, with a significant bias towards crosses between the genetically smaller-sized Barrow Island males and the larger-sized Dorre Island females. This pattern of introgression was opposite to the expectation that male–male competition or female mate choice would favour larger males. This study shows how mixing diverged populations can bolster genetic variation in newly established mammal populations, but the ultimate outcome can be difficult to predict, highlighting the need for continued genetic monitoring to assess the long-term impacts of admixture.

DOI

10.3390/genes10090729

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.