Application of Reproduction Technologies to the Conservation of Genetic Resources

Maintaining the levels of genetic variability in captive populations of endangered species is an important objective of conservation biology. Because of the generally low sizes of captive populations, genetic drift is the main cause of loss of diversity. Several simple management rules, such as equalization of contributions from parents to the next generation, are recommended for minimizing genetic drift, but it cannot be removed completely because of the unavoidable random segregation of heterozygotes. Recent advances in reproductive technology, particularly developed for mammals, are now making a reality of the possibility of using more than one cell from a single meiosis in reproduction. With this technology it is possible to reduce or even completely cancel the genetic drift caused by segregation of heterozygotes. We evaluated the theoretical benefits of the use of such technologies to conservation biology. The effective population size can be increased enormously and, consequently, the amount of drift can be greatly reduced if manipulations in reproduction are made.