Lack of diversity at innate immunity Toll-like receptor genes in the Critically Endangered White-winged Flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi) - PubMed (original) (raw)

Lack of diversity at innate immunity Toll-like receptor genes in the Critically Endangered White-winged Flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi)

Desire L Dalton et al. Sci Rep. 2016.

Abstract

The White-winged Flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi) population is listed as globally Critically Endangered. White-winged Flufftails are only known to occur, with any regularity, in the high-altitude wetlands of South Africa and Ethiopia. Threats to the species include the limited number of suitable breeding sites in Ethiopia and severe habitat degradation and loss both in Ethiopia and South Africa. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are increasingly being studied in a variety of taxa as a broader approach to determine functional genetic diversity. In this study, we confirm low genetic diversity in the innate immune regions of the White-winged Flufftail similar to that observed in other bird species that have undergone population bottlenecks. Low TLR diversity in White-winged Flufftail indicates that this species is more likely to be threatened by changes to the environment that would potentially expose the species to new diseases. Thus, conservation efforts should be directed towards maintaining pristine habitat for White-winged Flufftail in its current distribution range. To date, no studies on immunogenetic variation in White-winged Flufftail have been conducted and to our knowledge, this is the first study of TLR genetic diversity in a critically endangered species.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Principal coordinate analysis of five Toll-like receptor loci generated from genetic distance in GenALEx v.6.5b3 between (A) species (Red-chested Flufftail, White-winged Flufftail [Ethiopia] and White-winged Flufftail [South Africa], where axis 1 and axis 2 explains 74.68% and 8.01% of the variance across species in TLR gene diversity, respectively), and between (B) populations (White-winged Flufftail [Ethiopia] and White-winged Flufftail [South Africa], where axis 1 and axis 2 explains 31.66% and 26.88% of the variance across species in TLR gene diversity, respectively). One symbol represents one individual. X = Red-chested Flufftail, Δ = White-winged Flufftail (South Africa) and ◾ = White-winged Flufftail (Ethiopia).

Figure 2

Figure 2

Variance in estimates of the number of inferred haploytypes (h, indicated on the right in blue bars) and mean nucleotide diversity (π, indicated on the left in red bars) among avian species (house finch, Lesser Kestrel, New Zealand Robin and White-winged Flufftail) calculated from three Toll-like receptors (TLR1LB, TLR3 and TLR4). Median values for h and π, respectively, for the total sample set (n = 36) are shown as green vertical lines.

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