Researchers in northern Saskatchewan recently found a small group of woodland ca

Question

Researchers in northern Saskatchewan recently found a small group of woodland caribou that appeared to be isolated from other caribou herds. Several calves in this herd showed bone abnormalities. The researchers are concerned that the abnormalities are due to an unusual level of inbreeding. They genotyped all 24 caribou and found these results for two alleles at one locus: homozygous for A1 = 8 caribou, heterozygous A1A2= 10 caribou, homozygous for A2 = 6 caribou.

If coefficients of inbreeding in five large caribou herds that do not have calves with bone abnormalities are 0.22, 0.13, 0.30, 0.29, and 0.10, what should the researchers conclude about bone problems in their small group of caribou and why?

Explanation / Answer

The inbreeding coefficient is the probability of two alleles and the locus is identical. As inbreeding increases, the frequency of alleles with homozygous at a specific locus also increases. Hence the inbreeding coefficient reduces the amount of variation in a population. Here, low level of inbreeding coefficient 10% indicates a low level of inbreeding occurs in a population of bone problems in the small group of caribou. Inbreeding coefficient more than 30% are unusual in a population. In the small group of caribou shows only low level of inbreeding coefficient such as 22%, 13%, 30%, 29% and 10%.

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