title: Inbreeding affects fecundity of American mink (Neovison vison) in Danish farm mink.
abstract: Inbreeding is an increasing problem in farmed mink, because of limited exchange of individuals between farms. In this study, genetic relatedness within seven American mink (Neovison vison) colour strains originating from 13 different mink farms in Denmark was analysed using 21 polymorphic microsatellite loci. We detected large differences in the level of relatedness (range 0.017-0.520) within colour strains. Moreover, a very strong and highly significant negative correlation between the level of relatedness and fecundity was observed (r = 0.536, P < 0.001) [Correction added after online publication on 9 March 2011: r(2) has been changed to r]. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a correlation has been demonstrated for commercially farmed mink.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Demontis
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Baekgaard
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sønderup
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: V H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Loeschcke
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zalewski
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zalewska
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pertoldi
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods; D003718:Denmark; D005298:Fertility / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006197:Hair / Q000502:physiology; D006579:Heterozygote; D007178:Inbreeding; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D008907:Mink / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers