Low biochemical variability in European fallow deer (dama dama L.): natural bottlenecks and the effects of domestication

Abstract

Tissue and blood samples from 180 fallow deer (Dama dama L.) belonging to an Italian free-ranging population were studied for biochemical variability by means of cellulose acetate and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The 51 putative genetic loci successfully resolved showed a very low level of variability (P = 0020, H = 0.006) in accordance with previously reported data on British and West German populations. That low biochemical polymorphism in European fallow deer populations is discussed taking into account the effects of natural bottlenecks and of domestication.

Origin and patterns of genetic diversity of German fallow deer as inferred from mitochondrial DNA

“…Previous enzyme electrophoretic analyses found no genetic variation in European fallow deer populations (Pemberton and Smith 1985;Hartl et al 1986;Randi and Appolonio 1988;Wehner et al 1991), whereas a few more recent studies found low genetic polymorphism among these populations (Masseti et al 1997;Poetsch et al 2001;Say et al 2003). Considering the outcome of these studies, the most likely scenario is that only a very few specimens from a geographically restricted donor population founded the German populations.…”

Genetic variability and differentiation in red deer (Cervus elaphus L) of Central Europe

“…If in the French red deer the polymorphism in ACP-1 is included in the calculation of genetic variation, the P-and H-values rise to mean P = 13.3% instead of 11% and mean H = 3.9% instead of 2.9%, but this is fully compensated by the 8 monomorphic loci investigated additionally in these populations (mean P = 10.6%, mean H = 3.1%). As stated by Gorman and Renzi (1979) (Pemberton and Smith, 1985;Randi and Apollonio, 1988), in the moose possibly due to past genetic bottlenecks (Ryman et al, 1977. The polymorphism at the Idh-2 locus has been found (with the exception of Herzog, 1988a,b) in almost all red deer populations studied so far -across several subspecies (C e elaphus, scoticus, germanicus, hippelaphus and canadensis) -with high frequencies of (most likely) the same variant allele, ldh-2 12 , 1 (Dratch, 1983;Gyllensten et al, 1983;Dratch and Gyllensten, 1985;Hartl, 1986).…”

Genetic structure of introduced European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) in Tasmania, Australia

“…Four loci were common to the Tasmanian and Irish fallow deer studies; there was one less allele at all four loci in the Tasmanian animals. Other studies examining fallow deer genetic variability have used RAPD, allozymes, or proteins, where no variability (McDougall and Lowe 1968;Pemberton and Smith 1985;Herzog 1988Herzog , 1990 or extremely low levels of variability (Hartl et al 1986;Randi and Apollonio 1988;Herzog 1989;Schreiber and Fakler 1996;Scandura et al 1998) were Pemberton and Smith 1985), although the extent of such an event is unknown.…”

“…10,000 BP (Chapman and Chapman 1975), with the Mid-Eastern population believed to be the only extant population. These animals were subsequently used for reintroductions into Europe and Britain (Randi and Apollonio 1988). Fallow deer are currently found in the British Isles, many European countries, North and South America, South Africa, Australasia, and West Indies (Chapman and Chapman 1980).…”