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RAD-Seq data advance captive-based conservation of wild bactrian camels (Camelus ferus)

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Abstract

The wild Bactrian camel is one of the world’s rarest and most endangered animals and is facing hybridization threat due to human encroachment. Although captive breeding programs of the wild camel have been undertaken to save it from extinction, to succeed, we need to take into account many factors, e.g., maintain genetic diversity of captive populations similar to that found in wild populations. We applied restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) on a captive population in the most important wild camel conservation center in China—Gansu endangered animal conservation center—to investigate the genetic diversity, potential hybridization and inbreeding threats, and thus further guide population management. We sequenced a total of 44 Bactrian camels including 13 wild camels and 31 domestic camels and generated a genome-wide polymorphism dataset with 679,195 high-quality SNPs. This enabled us to detect wild camel individuals with recent genetic introgression from domestic camels. In addition, it revealed that the studied captive population suffers from inbreeding. We therefore suggest practical measures to improve the management of the wild camel and to protect its natural gene pool.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Public Welfare Project of the National Scientific Research Institution (CAFYBB2011003), National Biological Specimens and Resources Sharing Platform in Nature Reserve (2005DKA21404), Free-oriented Project from Shenzhen Government (JCYJ20170817150755701). We are grateful to the Endangered Animal Conservation Center and Xihu National Nature Reserve in Gansu province for providing the valuable samples. We thank Rasmus Heller and Shyam Gopalakrishnan at Copenhagen University for analysis advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Key Laboratory of Biological Conservation of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Yuguang Zhang, Yadong Xue & Diqiang Li

  2. BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China

    Yuhong Zhong, Chengran Zhou & Shanlin Liu

  3. China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518120, China

    Yuhong Zhong, Chengran Zhou & Shanlin Liu

  4. Department of Biological Sciences and Technology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yuhong Zhong

  5. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Biology and Control of Plant Pests, College of Plant Protection, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410125, China

    Yanyun Hong

  6. Key Laboratory of Bio-Resource and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Chengran Zhou

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  1. Yuguang Zhang
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Zhang, Y., Zhong, Y., Hong, Y. et al. RAD-Seq data advance captive-based conservation of wild bactrian camels (Camelus ferus). Conserv Genet 20, 817–824 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-019-01173-5

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