CRB: Molecular Identification of Threatened Species: Does Theory Predict the Utility of Nuclear vs. Mitochondrial Sequences?

大多数物种是由相互作用的种群组成的，描述这些相互作用是了解它们的后果，这仍然是保护生物学中最大的挑战之一。迄今为止，在检测种群内部和种群之间的遗传差异方面的技术进步与元种群模型和相互作用种群的人口统计学描述相匹配。然而，人口统计学、建模和遗传方法对元人口的全面融合尚未实现。什么时候一个生态种群可以被识别为一个遗传种群？什么时候基因差异能正确预测元种群模型的结果？这些问题需要得到回答，以便将遗传和生态方法结合起来研究超种群。这项研究旨在了解人群在基因上彼此不同的过程。这种遗传差异是最近对保护管理的进化重要单位的定义的核心，这种定义依赖于某些遗传位点上种群的相互单系性。在此之前，人们对线粒体DNA的关注很大，因为这些基因座很快就会变成单系的。然而，由于mtDNA仅追踪母体遗传模式，因此不能用于参数化种群结构的生态模型。核位点在基因上区分种群有多有用？这取决于与线粒体基因相比，核基因单一性的发展速度。种群遗传理论预测了这两种比率之间的简单关系，但这种预测依赖于许多从未在任何动物系统中验证过的假设。这项保护生物学研究将调查一系列鲸鱼和海豚物种中线粒体和核位点的互惠单系性的发展。这项研究将直接应用于种群在遗传和生态上变得可区分的速度。这是处理濒危物种种群时的一个核心问题。此外，本研究开发的遗传标记将在监测鲸鱼和海豚种群方面具有重要的实际应用。

9622182 Palumbi Most species are comprised on interacting populations, and describing these interactions are understanding their consequences remains one of the greatest challenges in conservation biology. To date, metapopulation modeling and demographic description of interacting populations have been matched by technical advances in the detection of genetic differences within and between populations. However, a comprehensive melding of demographic, modeling and genetic approaches to metapopulations has yet to be achieved. When is an ecological population identifiable as a genetic population? When do differences in genetics correctly predict results of metapopulation models? These questions need to be answered to bring genetic and ecological approaches to metapopulations together. This research seeks to understand the processes by which populations become genetically distinct from one another. Such genetic distinctions are at the heart of recent definitions of evolutionarily significant units for conservation management which depend on reciprocal monophyly of populations at some genetic locus. Previously, much attention has been placed on mitochondrial DNA because these loci become monophyletic rapidly. However, mtDNA can not be used to parameterize ecological models of population structure because mtDNA only tracks maternal inheritance patterns. How useful are nuclear loci in discriminating populations genetically? This depends on the rate of development of monophyly of nuclear genes compared to mitochondrial genes. Population genetic theory predicts a simple relationship between these two rates, but this prediction depends on many assumptions that have never been tested in any animal system. This conservation biology research will investigate the development of reciprocal monophyly in mitochondrial and nuclear loci in a set of defined species of whales and dolphins. This study will have direct application to the rate at which populations become distinguishable genetically and ecologically . This is a central questions when dealing with populations of endangered species. In addition, the genetic markers developed in this research will have important practical applications for monitoring whale and dolphin populations.