A Study On The Molecular-assisted Genetic Management Of Captive Population Of The Siberian Tiger

The founder of the captive population of Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Park can be tracked back to individuals that distributed in northeastern China during 1950s to 1960s. They are possibly different from Far East populations in genetics, thus the gene pool is of great significance of conservation. In the past 20 years, the population expanded to more than 530 individuals from 13 founders. It has already got rid of the risk of extinction in number, but not in genetic diversity due to constant inbreeding and artificial selection. Genetic background was surveyed and part of the pedigree was revised by using 14 microsatellites. Allele number found at each locus ranged from 3-11, being 5.6, on average. Effective allele number ranged from 0.91-5.01, being 2.47 on average. In the pedigree revision, cumulative none-paternal exclusive rate was 98.3709%~99.9908%. The above results demonstrated the validity of this set of microsatellite system in the genetic management of tiger population. The molecular genetic survey across 3 generations indicated that both population heterozygosity and individual multilocus heterozygosity behaved a declining trend, implying a decline of genetic diversity and individual genetic potential. Therefore, measures are urgently required to prevent further such reduction. Forasmuch, we established a microsatellite data based genetic management system. Tests using known family pedigree indicated that this management system was capable to predict genotype and individual MLH of offspring, and capable to address the genetic output of any mating pairing scheme, and therefore, capable to select an optimal pairing scheme as an effective criteria. It is applicable to the population genetic management of both tiger and other endangered species. Concerning the genetic status and scale of the Siberian Tiger Park population, we suggest dividing the present population into two subpopulations, namely the Core Population and the Periphery Population. Strict genetic management based on our system should be applied to the Core Population to attain high quality of the conserved gene pool, and the Periphery Population is not necessarily treated as conservation population.