Past Connectivity but Recent Inbreeding in Cross River Gorillas Determined Using Whole Genomes from Single Hairs

The critically endangered western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are divided into two subspecies: the western lowland (G. g. gorilla) and the Cross River (G. g. diehli) gorilla. Given the difficulty in sampling wild great ape populations and the small estimated size of the Cross River gorilla population...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: Alvarez-Estape, Marina|||0000-0001-8242-1092, Pawar, Harvinder|||0000-0002-3852-4999, Fontsere, Claudia|||0000-0003-2233-6026, Trujillo, Amber, Gunson, Jessica L., Bergl, Richard A., Bermejo, Magdalena, Linder, Joshua M., McFarland, Kelley, Oates, John F., Sunderland-Groves, Jacqueline L., Orkin, Joseph|||0000-0001-6922-2072, Higham, James P., Viaud-Martinez, Karine A., Lizano, Esther|||0000-0003-3304-9807, Marquès i Bonet, Tomàs|||0000-0002-5597-3075
Format: article
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:273780
Online Access:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/273780
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/genes14030743
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Non-invasive
Hairs
Inbreeding
Bottleneck
Gene flow
Wild gorillas
NGS
Cross River gorilla
Description
Summary:The critically endangered western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are divided into two subspecies: the western lowland (G. g. gorilla) and the Cross River (G. g. diehli) gorilla. Given the difficulty in sampling wild great ape populations and the small estimated size of the Cross River gorilla population, only one whole genome of a Cross River gorilla has been sequenced to date, hindering the study of this subspecies at the population level. In this study, we expand the number of whole genomes available for wild western gorillas, generating 41 new genomes (25 belonging to Cross River gorillas) using single shed hairs collected from gorilla nests. By combining these genomes with publicly available wild gorilla genomes, we confirm that Cross River gorillas form three population clusters. We also found little variation in genome-wide heterozygosity among them. Our analyses reveal long runs of homozygosity (.

Similar Items