Inbreeding And Amphibian Malformations

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Veterinary
Article Date: 02 Jul 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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We captured 687 adult and 1259 larval tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum), assessed individuals for gross malformations, and surveyed genetic variation among malformed and normal individuals using both cytoplasmic and nuclear markers.

The overall frequency of adults with malformations was 0.078 compared to 0.081 in larval samples.

Genetic diversity was high in both normal and malformed salamanders, and there were no significant difference in measures of inbreeding, mean individual heterozygosity, or mean internal relatedness.

Environmental contaminants or other extrinsic factors may lead to genome alternations that ultimately cause malformations, but our data indicate that inbreeding is not a causal mechanism.

Royal Society journal Biology Letters

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