A Preliminary Population Genetics Analysis of Feral Goats from an Insular Environment Tomas Hrbek Yadira Ortiz

Capra aegagrus hircus Goats have played a key role throughout human history Most recent genetic and archeological evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that goats were domesticated in the Zagros Mountains and that domestication occurred 10,000 years before present Goat were possibly the first animals to be domesticated

Capra aegagrus hircus Subsequent to their domestication, goats have spread to other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa Goats arrived with European colonists to the Americas beginning in the 16 th century In many places goats were purposely set loose to form feral populations

Feral Goat dilemma Feral goats have a tendency to heavily and negatively impact native vegetation They have caused the extinction of native vegetation They have caused the extinction of native animals

Feral Goat dilemma

On the other hand, feral goats are often derived from European breeds which no longer exist in Europe Feral goats are also adapted to a new set of often extreme environmental conditions Feral goats in insular environments are also subject to genetic bottlenecks and inbreeding

Feral Goat dilemma Being an invasive species on one hand, and a reservoir of potentially useful genic variation that can be used for commercial stock improvement

Mona Island

Mona Island is an uplifted carbonate plateau that lies halfway between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola Mona Island is made of Miocene to Pliocene shallow water carbonates and is fringed on its western and southern sides by Pleistocene reef terraces Mona Island is a stressful xeric environment

Mona Island Goats What is the neutral genetic diversity and adaptive genetic variation in feral Mona goats compared with unimproved and improve breeds in Europe and Africa? How does individual genetic diversity correlate between neutral and selected loci? What are the origins of the feral Mona goats?

Mona Island Goat characterization 41 individuals of goat genotyped for 19 microsatellite markers 7 markers are monomorphic Miminum number of alleles was 2 Maximum number of alleles was 5 (locus CSMM66) Observed heterozygosity was 0.372

Comparisons There are a number of published studies investigating population genetic parameters in goats, and the relationships of goat breeds or land races These studies are mainly the result of the European Union funded Econogene project

Comparisons Luikart et al. (1999): 22 markers from 4 distinct populations Spanish Murciana-Grenadina population (32 individuals) is polymorphic at all 22 loci, and heterozygosity is 0.570

Comparisons Ouafi et al. (2002): 5 markers from 8 distinct populations from two localized breeds of Morocco and the Pyrenees, and cosmopolitan Alpine breeds All markers are polymorphic in the 6335 individuals analyzed and heterozygosity varied between to 0.729

Comparisons Serrano et al. (2009): 10 markers from 20 subpopulations of the threatened Spanish Guadarrama goats All markers are polymorphic in the 6335 individuals analyzed and heterozygosity varied between and 0.744

Conclusions In general Mona goats have very low heterozygosities and gene diversities Many loci area also monomorphic The Mona Island goats are highly inbred with respect to European and North African goat breeds

Future Prospects Mona Island goats will be sampled in January 2010 We are now in the process of developing a screen for MHC II complex We are in the process of developing microsatellite and MHC II complex markers for Mona Island pigs Geographic structure and demographic analyses planned