ArticleEcology and evolution2012
Can balancing selection on MHC loci counteract genetic drift in small fragmented populations of black grouse?
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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39 citing papers in PubMed, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the Evolutionary Potential of Endangered Populations Using Genomic Analyses of Selection in Ecologically Important Gene Regions.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Adaptive Genetic Variation in Black-and-White Snub-Nosed Monkeys (Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- MHC Diversity Across Time and Space.Ecology and evolution · 2025Review
- Diversifying selection and climatic effects on major histocompatibility complex class II gene diversity in the greater horseshoe bat.Evolutionary applications · 2023Article
- Effects of hunting on genetic diversity, inbreeding and dispersal in Finnish black grouse (Evolutionary applications · 2023Article
- Phylogenetically under-dispersed gut microbiomes are not correlated with host genomic heterozygosity in a genetically diverse reptile community.Molecular ecology · 2023Article
- Selection and demography drive range-wide patterns of MHC-DRB variation in mule deer.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Positive selection on the MHC class II DLA-DQA1 gene in golden jackals (Canis aureus) from their recent expansion range in Europe and its effect on their body mass index.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Spatiotemporal adaptive evolution of an MHC immune gene in a frog-fungus disease system.Heredity · 2021Article
- Habitat fragmentation differentially shapes neutral and immune gene variation in a tropical bird species.Heredity · 2021Article
- Urbanization processes drive divergence at the major histocompatibility complex in a common waterbird.PeerJ · 2021Article
- Major histocompatibility complex variation is similar in little brown bats before and after white-nose syndrome outbreak.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Comparing raccoon major histocompatibility complex diversity in native and introduced ranges: Evidence for the importance of functional immune diversity for adaptation and survival in novel environments.Evolutionary applications · 2020Article
- Wetter climates select for higher immune gene diversity in resident, but not migratory, songbirds.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Mating system is correlated with immunogenetic diversity in sympatric species of Peromyscine mice.PloS one · 2020Article
- Alternated selection mechanisms maintain adaptive diversity in different demographic scenarios of a large carnivore.BMC evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- Article
- Challenges of next-generation sequencing in conservation management: Insights from long-term monitoring of corridor effects on the genetic diversity of mouse lemurs in a fragmented landscape.Evolutionary applications · 2019Article
- Allelic diversity and selection at the MHC class I and class II in a bottlenecked bird of prey, the White-tailed Eagle.BMC evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- Differentiation measures for conservation genetics.Evolutionary applications · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ability of natural populations to adapt to new environmental conditions is crucial for their survival and partly determined by the standing genetic variation in each population. Populations with higher genetic diversity are more likely to contain individuals that are better adapted to new circumstances than populations with lower genetic diversity. Here, we use both neutral and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) markers to test whether small and highly fragmented populations hold lower genetic diversity than large ones. We use black grouse as it is distributed across Europe and found in populations with varying degrees of isolation and size. We sampled 11 different populations; five continuous, three isolated, and three small and isolated. We tested patterns of genetic variation in these populations using three different types of genetic markers: nine microsatellites and 21 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which both were found to be neutral, and two functional MHC genes that are presumably under selection. The small isolated populations displayed significantly lower neutral genetic diversity compared to continuous populations. A similar trend, but not as pronounced, was found for genotypes at MHC class II loci. Populations were less divergent at MHC genes compared to neutral markers. Measures of genetic diversity and population genetic structure were positively correlated among microsatellites and SNPs, but none of them were correlated to MHC when comparing all populations. Our results suggest that balancing selection at MHC loci does not counteract the power of genetic drift when populations get small and fragmented.
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