In the publication, “Genetic Rescue in Isle Royale wolves: genetic analysis and the collapse of the population”, Vucetich and others explore the decline of the benefit of genetic rescue over the years in the Island Royale wolves population. The publication hypothesizes that the genetic rescue event in the Island Royale wolves was not successful due to its long term effects of increased inbreeding of individuals and decline in population size. Genetic rescue events are important since they help to preserve the survival of species. Humans are necessary to assist with gene flow to increase heterozygosity of the gene pool and increase the population sizes since species are going nearly extinct due to human impacts. This study is unique in that
…show more content…
Inferring from the pedigree, the authors’ results showed that M93 had a high heterozygosity level of .833 and with its progeny, increased the heterozygosity level of the population drastically. However, it also introduced many deleterious recessive alleles, and possibly caused the population to decline. The Isle Royale wolves selected against the progeny of M93 due to their high frequencies of deleterious alleles and high inbreeding coefficients even though the progeny had high heterozygosity. The Isle Royale wolves similar to the Chillingham cattle learnt in class, have appeared to evolve to exist with low heterozygosity levels in the population by purging deleterious recessive alleles over time and thus, selected against individuals with high heterozygosity levels such as the progeny of M93. In addition, Figure 4 supports that the high inbreeding coefficient in the population after the M93 mated, caused a lower observed heterozygosity than expected heterozygosity level. The low level of observed heterozygosity was due to inbreeding, a violation of Hardy Weinberg’s assumption of non-random mating. The results of heterozygosity levels support the hypothesis of the genetic rescue’s waning benefits over successive …show more content…
Firstly, the authors concluded that the high heterozygosity of the population was due to undetected gene flow between wolf populations including the M93’s migration event. The authors reasoned that the undetected gene flow occurred due to formation of ice bridges during the winter. The gene flow mapped with a constant rate of .044 and .103 every third generation in Figure 5 corresponded with the observed heterozygosity levels of the current population. After the M93 migrated, there was an increase in heterozygosity temporarily in the population supported by the study’s results of heterozygosity levels from 2000 to 2015. Secondly, they conclude that the introduction of M93’s deleterious recessive alleles had caused the eventual decline of the population. The descendants of M93, a large portion of the population, carried a high frequency of the deleterious recessive alleles which caused them to have short lifespans, supported by the results of the low viabilities of M93 progeny in Table 2. When they died, a significant decline in population size
Inferring from the pedigree, the authors’ results showed that M93 had a high heterozygosity level of .833 and with its progeny, increased the heterozygosity level of the population drastically. However, it also introduced many deleterious recessive alleles, and possibly caused the population to decline. The Isle Royale wolves selected against the progeny of M93 due to their high frequencies of deleterious alleles and high inbreeding coefficients even though the progeny had high heterozygosity. The Isle Royale wolves similar to the Chillingham cattle learnt in class, have appeared to evolve to exist with low heterozygosity levels in the population by purging deleterious recessive alleles over time and thus, selected against individuals with high heterozygosity levels such as the progeny of M93. In addition, Figure 4 supports that the high inbreeding coefficient in the population after the M93 mated, caused a lower observed heterozygosity than expected heterozygosity level. The low level of observed heterozygosity was due to inbreeding, a violation of Hardy Weinberg’s assumption of non-random mating. The results of heterozygosity levels support the hypothesis of the genetic rescue’s waning benefits over successive …show more content…
Firstly, the authors concluded that the high heterozygosity of the population was due to undetected gene flow between wolf populations including the M93’s migration event. The authors reasoned that the undetected gene flow occurred due to formation of ice bridges during the winter. The gene flow mapped with a constant rate of .044 and .103 every third generation in Figure 5 corresponded with the observed heterozygosity levels of the current population. After the M93 migrated, there was an increase in heterozygosity temporarily in the population supported by the study’s results of heterozygosity levels from 2000 to 2015. Secondly, they conclude that the introduction of M93’s deleterious recessive alleles had caused the eventual decline of the population. The descendants of M93, a large portion of the population, carried a high frequency of the deleterious recessive alleles which caused them to have short lifespans, supported by the results of the low viabilities of M93 progeny in Table 2. When they died, a significant decline in population size