Marker-based estimates of between and within population kinships for the conservation of genetic diversity

In this article coefficients of kinship between and within populations are proposed as a tool to assess genetic diversity for conservation of genetic variation. However, pedigree-based kinships are often not available, especi ally between populations. A method of estimation of kinship from genetic ma rker data was applied to simulated data from random breeding populations in order to study the suitability of this method for livestock conservation p lans. Average coefficients of kinship between populations can be estimated with low Mean Square Error of Prediction, although a bias will occur from a lleles that are alike in state in the founder population. The bias is simil ar for all populations, so the ranking of populations will not be affected. Possible ways of diminishing this bias are discussed. The estimation of ki nships between individuals is imprecise unless the number of marker loci is large (> 200). However, it allows distinction between highly related anima ls (full sibs, half sibs and equivalent relations) and animals that are nor directly related if about 30-50 polymorphic marker genes are used. The mar ker-based estimates of kinship coefficients yielded higher correlations tha n genetic distance measures with pedigree-based kinships and thus to tills measure of generic diversity, although correlations were high overall. The relation between coefficients of kinship and generic distances are discusse d. Kinship-based diversity measures conserve the founder population allele frequencies, whereas generic distances will conserve populations in which a llele frequencies are che most different. Marker-based kinship estimates ca n be used for the selection Of breeds and individuals as contributors to a genetic a conservation programme.