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Low blood protein heterozygosity in zoo-bred hamadryas baboons
1Zoologisches Institut I, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Abstract:
An electrophoretic study of erythrocyte allozymes and serum proteins representing 32 genetic loci in 32 hamadryas baboons (Papio H.hamadryas) from Cologne and Frankfurt zoos revealed biallelic polymorphism in phosphoglucomutase (PGM), mannose phosphate isomerase (MPI) and transferrin (Tf). Polymorphism amounted to P = 0.097 over 31 loci and observed heterozygosity to H(o) = 0.011, indicating significant reduction from the respective gene diversity parameters encountered in free-living hamadryas baboons. Polygynous mating reduced numbers of heterozygotes at the Tf and the PGM-II loci significantly below Hardy-Weinberg expectations. This results support the importance of active genetic management in programmes for captive breeding and species conservation.