Media release

From: PNAS

Genetic diversity among privately owned tigers

A study characterizes the genetic diversity of privately owned captive tigers in the United States. Little is known about the genetic diversity within captive animal populations. Although they outnumber wild tigers, the genetic diversity of privately owned tigers living in captivity is poorly understood. Ellie E. Armstrong and colleagues sought to determine whether privately owned tigers are highly inbred or harbor genetic diversity that has been lost in the wild. The authors generated whole-genome sequences for 138 tigers residing in sanctuaries across the United States and combined the data with previously published genome sequences. All the captive tiger sequences contained ancestry from all six extant tiger subspecies. The subspecies with the highest prevalence among the sequences examined were Amur and Bengal tigers. Genetic diversity and levels of inbreeding among the privately owned tigers were similar to those of wild populations. The authors developed a genetic reference panel and demonstrated that the panel accurately distinguished individual tigers and could help determine ancestry. The analysis revealed that privately owned tiger populations do not offer a unique source of genetic diversity that could be tapped in conservation efforts. According to the authors, the reference panel offers a low-cost resource for tiger ancestry identification that could aid conservation and monitoring of captive and wild tiger populations.