Application of mitochondrial genes sequences for measuring the genetic diversity of Arabian oryx

Abstract

Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) had faced extinction in the wild more than three decades ago and was saved by the prudent efforts of captive breeding programs. A clear understanding of the molecular diversity of contemporary Arabian oryx population is important for the long term success of captive breeding and reintroduction of this potentially endangered species. We have sequenced the segments of mitochondrial DNA including12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, cytochrome b (Cyt-b) and control region (CR) genes of 24 captive-bred and reintroduced animals. Although the sequences of 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA and Cyt-b were found to be identical for all the samples, typical sequence variations in the CR gene were observed in the form of 7 haplotypes. One of these haplotypes has been reported earlier while the remaining 6 haplotypes are novel and represent different lineages from the founders. The haplotype and nucleotide diversities were found to be 0.789 and 0.009 respectively. The genetic distances among the 7 mtDNA haplotypes varied from 0.001 to 0.017. These findings are of potential relevance to the management of captive breeding programs for the conservation of Arabian oryx.

Genetic assessment of the Arabian oryx founder population in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE: an example of evaluating unmanaged captive stocks for reintroduction

“…It is only when the animals reintroduced at Um El Zumool are treated as a single population that the levels of diversity approach that of individual managed populations. Recent work in Saudi Arabia has identified seven distinct mitochondrial control region haplotypes within two managed groups, three of which were different to those observed in this study (Khan et al 2011). Again, this level of diversity is comparable with the total observed in the UAE.…”

Rescued back from extinction in the wild: past, present and future of the genetics of the Arabian oryx in Oman

“…Furthermore, SNP data provide a more accurate representation of the genome, because current sequencing technologies allow for genotyping thousands of markers compared with tens of markers for typical microsatellites datasets. After acknowledging the above caveats, our results showed the same trend as in microsatellite-based studies [6,7,11,12]. Specifically, Marshall et al .…”

“…The low levels of genetic diversity reported in these studies might be the result of a period of isolation over multiple generations between the main founder groups. In addition to the research completed using microsatellites, 12 mitochondrial DNA control region (mtDNA CR) haplotypes were identified in the Arabian oryx populations (electronic supplementary material, tables S1 and S2; [ 11 , 12 , 15 ]). The above genetic studies have provided important information to develop basic herd-management recommendations; however, they do not have the resolution required to inform more intensive individual-based management or individual breeding strategies [ 7 ].…”

Genetic structure of captive and free-ranging okapi (Okapia johnstoni) with implications for management

“…In contrast, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been used less frequently than microsatellite markers for informing captive breeding programs (Russello et al 2007;Benavides et al 2012). Also, analysis has usually been limited to measures of genetic diversity, rather than investigating geographic origin of founders or representation of wild alleles in captivity (Gautschi et al 2003;Muñoz-fuentes et al 2008;McGreevy et al 2009;Lesobre et al 2010;Khan et al 2011;McGreevy et al 2011). This bias towards the use of microsatellites is likely to be due to the fact that, for some species, mtDNA has been shown to feature low diversity in the wild and/or founding individuals, limiting its utility (Hedrick et al 1997).…”