Limited inbreeding avoidance at the gamete level despite inbreeding depression in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).

ABSTRACT: Inbreeding and the associated increase in homozygosity and potential accumulation of deleterious alleles may reduce fitness in a process known as inbreeding depression. Mechanisms to mitigate reproduction between close relatives, ranging from pre-mating mate choice to post-mating gamete selection, have evolved across taxa. In external fertilisers like Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), where females have limited control over paternity, mechanisms of inbreeding avoidance can be expected to evolve at the gamete level. Philopatric Atlantic salmon may run the risk of breeding between relatives, particularly in small populations, and frequent escapes from aquaculture settings are augmenting the chances of adults from the same sibling cohort overlapping in the wild, raising potential ecological and

SUBMITTER: Graziano M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12586779 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature