Supporting long-term sustainability of ex situ collections using a pedigree-based population management approach.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Living collections maintained for generations are at risk of diversity loss, inbreeding, and adaptation to cultivation. To address these concerns, the zoo community uses pedigrees to track individuals and implement crosses that maximize founder contributions and minimize inbreeding. Using a pedigree management approach, we demonstrate how conducting strategic crosses can minimize genetic issues that have arisen under current practices.

Methods

We performed crosses between collections and compared progeny fitness, including plant performance and reproductive health. We genotyped the progeny and parental accessions to measure changes in diversity and relatedness within and between accessions.

Results

The mean relatedness values among individuals within each acce

SUBMITTER: Foster JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9575128 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature