Journal of Heredity

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu083pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu081pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu084pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu085pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu082pmid: N/A

Waples, Robin S.

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu062pmid: 25425676

Testing for Hardy–Weinberg proportions (HWP) is routine in almost all genetic studies of natural populations, but many researchers do not demonstrate a full understanding of the purposes of these tests or how to interpret the results. Common problems include a lack of understanding of statistical power and the difference between statistical significance and biological significance, how to interpret results of multiple tests, and how to distinguish between various factors that can cause statistically significant departures. In this perspective, which focuses on analysis of genetic data for nonmodel species, I 1) review factors that can cause departures from HWP at individual loci and linkage disequilibrium (LD) at pairs of loci; 2) discuss commonly used tests for HWP and LD, with an emphasis on multiple-testing issues; 3) show how to distinguish among possible causes of departures from HWP; and 4) outline some simple steps to follow when significant test results are found. Finally, I 5) identify some issues that merit particular attention as we move into an era in which analysis of genomics-scale datasets for nonmodel species is commonplace.

Hedrick, Philip W.; Lacy, Robert C.

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu072pmid: 25472983

Genetic relatedness between individuals is an important measure in many areas of biology. However, some relatedness measures for use with molecular (allele) data assume that the individuals themselves are not inbred. Here, we present a new measure of relatedness based on the different modes of identity-by-descent for alleles that has an upper bound of 1 even when the individuals being compared are themselves inbred. This new measure is compared to several other measures of relatedness using several simple examples and pedigree data from the wolf population in Isle Royale National Park.

Cronin, Matthew A.; Cánovas, Angela; Bannasch, Danika L.; Oberbauer, Anita M.; Medrano, Juan F.

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu075pmid: 25429025

There is considerable interest in the genetics of wolves (Canis lupus) because of their close relationship to domestic dogs (C. familiaris) and the need for informed conservation and management. This includes wolf populations in Southeast Alaska for which we determined genotypes of 305 wolves at 173662 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci. After removal of invariant and linked SNP, 123801 SNP were used to quantify genetic differentiation of wolves in Southeast Alaska and wolves, coyotes (C. latrans), and dogs from other areas in North America. There is differentiation of SNP allele frequencies between the species (wolves, coyotes, and dogs), although differentiation is relatively low between some wolf and coyote populations. There are varying levels of differentiation among populations of wolves, including low differentiation of wolves in interior Alaska, British Columbia, and the northern US Rocky Mountains. There is considerable differentiation of SNP allele frequencies of wolves in Southeast Alaska from wolves in other areas. However, wolves in Southeast Alaska are not a genetically homogeneous group and there are comparable levels of genetic differentiation among areas within Southeast Alaska and between Southeast Alaska and other geographic areas. SNP variation and other genetic data are discussed regarding taxonomy and management.

Khanshour, Anas; Juras, Rytis; Blackburn, Rick; Cothran, E. Gus

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu074pmid: 25416795

The Canadian breed of horse invokes a fascinating chapter of North American history and as such it is now a heritage breed and the national horse of Canada. The aims of this study were to determine the level of genetic diversity in the Canadian, investigate the possible foundation breeds and the role it had in the development of the US horse breeds, such as Morgan Horse. We tested a total of 981 horses by using 15 microsatellite markers. We found that Canadian horses have high values of genetic diversity indices and show no evidence of a serious loss of genetic diversity and the inbreeding coefficient was not significantly different from zero. Belgian, Percheron, Breton and Dales Pony, unlike the light French horses, may have common ancestries with the Canadian and could be important founders. However, the Shire and Clydesdale influenced the Canadian to a lesser extent than French and Belgian draft breeds. Furthermore, our finding indicated that there was no evidence of a clear relationship between Canadian and Oriental or Iberian breeds. Also, the Canadian likely contributed to the early development of the Morgan. Finally, these findings support the ancient legends of the Canadian Horse as North America’s first equine breed and the foundation bloodstock to many American breeds and may help in the management and breeding program of this outstanding breed in North America.

Holmes, Iris

doi: 10.1093/jhered/esu068pmid: 25433082

In this article, we address the temporal stability of population genetic structure in a range-edge population that is undergoing continual, short-distance colonization events. We sampled western toad, Anaxyrus boreas, breeding populations over 2 seasons near their northern range limit in southeast Alaska. We sampled 20 ponds each during the summers of 2008 and 2009, with 14 ponds sampled in both summers. We found considerable turnover in the population genetic relationships among ponds in those 2 seasons, as well as biologically meaningful genetic differentiation between years within some ponds. We found relatively consistent relationships between major population centers, whereas the relationships between the central ponds and smaller, outlying populations differed year to year. This finding indicates that multiple years of genetic sampling may be important for understanding the genetic landscape of some populations.