title: Microsatellite support for active inbreeding in a cichlid fish.
abstract: In wild animal populations, the degree of inbreeding differs between species and within species between populations. Because mating with kin often results in inbreeding depression, observed inbreeding is usually regarded to be caused by limited outbreeding opportunities due to demographic factors like small population size or population substructuring. However, theory predicts inclusive benefits from mating with kin, and thus part of the observed variation in inbreeding might be due to active inbreeding preferences. Although some recent studies indeed report kin mating preferences, the evidence is still highly ambiguous. Here, we investigate inbreeding in a natural population of the West African cichlid fish Pelvicachromis taeniatus which showed clear kin mating preferences in standardized laboratory experiments but no inbreeding depression. The presented microsatellite analysis reveals that the natural population has, in comparison to two reference populations, a reduced allelic diversity (A = 3) resulting in a low heterozygosity (H(o) = 0.167) pointing to a highly inbred population. Furthermore, we found a significant heterozygote deficit not only at population (F(is) = 0.116) but also at subpopulation level (F(is) = 0.081) suggesting that inbreeding is not only a by-product of population substructuring but possibly a consequence of behavioral kin preferences.
authors: Institute for Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. klangen@evolution.uni-bonn.de
authors: Kathrin
authors: K
authors: Langen
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Schwarzer
authors: Harald
authors: H
authors: Kullmann
authors: Theo C M
authors: TC
authors: Bakker
authors: Timo
authors: T
authors: Thünken
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D023681:Cichlids / Q000235:genetics*; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D007178:Inbreeding; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics; D045483:Rivers; D013045:Species Specificity