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Genetic parameter estimates for estrus duration and urinary hormone levels in captive female giant pandas

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Abstract

In captive giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), both urinary estrogen and progesterone levels have been dynamically measured and routinely involved in the assisted reproduction. Yet the genetic contribution to phenotypic variability on these reproductive hormone levels remains largely unknown, which may be helpful for understanding the influence of mating system on reproduction. In this study, we used the longitudinal measures of urinary estrogen and progesterone levels, which were collected on 59 female giant pandas from 2007 to 2021, for estimating the heritability and genetic correlations of 3 estrus-related indicators, including estrus length (EL), estrogen concentration (EC), and progesterone concentration (Pg). The genetic relationship matrix was derived from pedigree records, and variance components were estimated by a three-trait animal model. Our results revealed that EC had the highest heritability (± SE) of 0.47 ± 0.08, which was followed by Pg of 0.38 ± 0.10 and EL of 0.19 ± 0.08. Weak positive genetic correlations (± SE) were observed between EL and EC (0.47 ± 0.32), and between EC and Pg (0.31 ± 0.26). To our best knowledge, this is the first study to estimate heritability and genetic correlation for estrus-related indicators in captive giant pandas, which could be taken into consideration to optimize the reproduction management of this vulnerable species.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (2021CPB-B09 and 2022CPB-B09).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, 610081, Sichuan, China

    He Huang, Yongyou Feng, Zongjin Ye, Rong Hou, Yuliang Liu, Li Luo, Xiangming Huang, Kongju Wu, James Ayala, Kailai Cai & Jingchao Lan

  2. Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China

    Shiyi Chen

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  1. He Huang
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  2. Shiyi Chen
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  3. Yongyou Feng
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Contributions

Study conception and design: HH, SYC, and JCL; data collection: YY F, ZJY, RH, YLL, LL, XMH, KJW, and KLC; analysis and interpretation of results: HH, SYC, and JCL; original draft preparation: HH and JCL; writing—review and editing: HH, SYC, JCL, and JA. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to He Huang or Jingchao Lan.

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Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, and was conducted in compliance with China Wildlife Conservation Association’s Principles for the Ethical Treatment of Endangered Species.

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Huang, H., Chen, S., Feng, Y. et al. Genetic parameter estimates for estrus duration and urinary hormone levels in captive female giant pandas. Mamm Biol 103, 543–548 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-023-00375-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-023-00375-2

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