Pedigrees and Gene Drop Analysis, Ecological Interactions, Maintaining Genetic Diversity and Evoluti

Pedigrees and Gene Drop Analysis

Assume that individuals F1-F4 below are the founders of a captive breeding program for larlarlongs, an extraterrestrial species native to the planet Tralfalmadore (see “Slaughter House Five” by K. Vonnegut for more on this odd planet and Billy Pilgrim’s experience there). Each one is a heterozygote and all have different alleles (8 alleles total to start (numbered 1-8). Use coin-flips to derive one possible outcome of a gene-drop analysis (what the genotypes will be for the next generation(s) based on chance alone) for this pedigree.  Assume that individuals A-D are the only surviving larlarlongs in the universe.

What are the allele frequencies for individuals A-D based upon the outcome of your single gene-drop?  What are the observed and expected heterozygosities for individuals A-D based upon the outcome of your single gene-drop?  How many of the eight original alleles remain in the captive population of larlarlongs based upon your single gene drop outcome? (Note males are squares).  Can you ever maintain all 8 alleles in this scenario?

• State the research question and explain why it is interesting.
• State the hypotheses tested.
• Briefly describe the methods (design, what was measured, how data were analyzed).
• Describe the results. Were they significant?
• Explain the key implications of the results. Avoid overstating the importance of the findings.

Note this whole thing should be no more than a page.  If you have more you are overthinking it and writing too much jibber jabber. 

Effective population size can be calculated from the loss of genetic diversity by the equation  H_t/H_o = e^-t/2Ne, where H_t is the current heterozygosity, H_o is the initial heterozygosity, t is the number of generations, and Ne is the effective size.

By doing a little mathematical manipulation to the equation above we can derive an equation that will help us approximate the effective population size we would need to manage a population for 100 years and retain 95% of the genetic diversity in that population.  Rearranged the equation looks like this;

Ne = -100/ 2L ln (0.95), where L is the generation time for the organism being studied.

1.  How large does a population of Blue Whales (generation time ~ 20 years) need to be to retain 95% of its genetic diversity for 100 years?

1.  Does moleculargenetic diversity like microsatellites reflect evolutionary potential?  If not what does?  If so which molecular measure is the best (allozymes, microsatellites, SNP, etc.)?

The figure below shows a microsatellite gel with the genotypes of a chick, her mother and 6 different males from the population.  Does exclusion analysis allow you to identify the true father?  Explain.

The earth is in trouble.  You have been assigned to manage a captive breeding program for the Giant Snooka (I made this up but imagine it is like a one foot tall panda (biologically as well) (named giant because it is much taller than it’s relatives).  The lead scientist for this, Dr. Snyder, has told you all she knows but has decided to remain behind.  Behind? You ask…well the earth is in real trouble in this little ditty.  You are going to have to go it alone.  The earth has had it and will be consumed by some fiery, watery, acidic, earth trembling calamity and everything on it will be gone gone gone.  

The good news is that some half-witted life form from the planet Gazuba has offered to let us use the terrestrial part of their planet since they only reside in pockets of sulfur gas beneath the surface of the planet.  Anyway, they gave us a fleet of 3 starships.  One will contain all the people who bought tickets on Groupon.  The second will contain all the people who were deemed important and indispensable by the general population.  This ship is actually much, much  smaller than the other two but we won’t tell them that since there were only three living people who were deemed indispensable (Dwayne Johnson and Lady Gaga were two of them).

 The third ship will carry the biodiversity of our planet, as best as we can manage, to Gazuba which is about 1000 years away.  This floating zoo will be released on the planet upon arrival after suitable habitat is arranged.  You have to set up the plan even though you may not live 1000 years to see it through. 

Describe and troubleshoot your tactics for:

1.Founding your captive population

2.Growing your captive population

3.Managing your captive population

4.Selecting individuals for introduction to the planet

5.Managing the introduced population