title: Admixture between historically isolated mitochondrial lineages in captive Western gorillas: recommendations for future management.
abstract: Although captive populations of western gorilla have been maintained in the United States for over a century, little is known about the geographic origins and genetic composition of the current zoo population. Furthermore, although previous mitochondrial analyses have shown that free-range gorilla populations exhibit substantial regional differentiation, nothing is known of the extent to which this variation has been preserved in captive populations. To address these questions, we combined 379 pedigree records with data from 52 mitochondrial sequences to infer individual haplogroup affiliations, geographical origin of wild founders and instances of inter-breeding between haplogroups in the United States captive gorilla population. We show that the current captive population contains all major mitochondrial lineages found within wild western lowland gorillas. Levels of haplotype diversity are also comparable to those found in wild populations. However, the majority of captive gorilla matings have occurred between individuals with different haplogroup affiliations. Although restricting crosses to individuals within the same haplogroup would preserve the phylogeographic structure present in the wild, careful management of captive populations is required to minimize the risk of drift and inbreeding. However, when captive animals are released back into the wild, we recommend that efforts should be made to preserve natural phylogeographic structure.
authors: From the Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA 70148 (Soto-Calderón, Dew, and Anthony); the Molecular Genetics Lab. (GENMOL), University of Antioquia, AA.1226, Medellín, Colombia (Soto-Calderón); the North Carolina Zoo, 4401 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro, NC 27205 (Bergl); and the Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 (Jensen-Seaman). ivandariosoto@hotmail.com.
authors: Iván D
authors: ID
authors: Soto-Calderón
authors: From the Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA 70148 (Soto-Calderón, Dew, and Anthony); the Molecular Genetics Lab. (GENMOL), University of Antioquia, AA.1226, Medellín, Colombia (Soto-Calderón); the North Carolina Zoo, 4401 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro, NC 27205 (Bergl); and the Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 (Jensen-Seaman).
authors: J Larry
authors: JL
authors: Dew
authors: From the Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA 70148 (Soto-Calderón, Dew, and Anthony); the Molecular Genetics Lab. (GENMOL), University of Antioquia, AA.1226, Medellín, Colombia (Soto-Calderón); the North Carolina Zoo, 4401 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro, NC 27205 (Bergl); and the Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 (Jensen-Seaman).
authors: Richard A
authors: RA
authors: Bergl
authors: From the Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA 70148 (Soto-Calderón, Dew, and Anthony); the Molecular Genetics Lab. (GENMOL), University of Antioquia, AA.1226, Medellín, Colombia (Soto-Calderón); the North Carolina Zoo, 4401 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro, NC 27205 (Bergl); and the Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 (Jensen-Seaman).
authors: Michael I
authors: MI
authors: Jensen-Seaman
authors: From the Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA 70148 (Soto-Calderón, Dew, and Anthony); the Molecular Genetics Lab. (GENMOL), University of Antioquia, AA.1226, Medellín, Colombia (Soto-Calderón); the North Carolina Zoo, 4401 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro, NC 27205 (Bergl); and the Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 (Jensen-Seaman).
authors: Nicola M
authors: NM
authors: Anthony
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000235:genetics; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D010375:Pedigree; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Captive gorillas; Conservation; Great apes; Mitochondrial diversity