A genetic study confirms advances in the recovery of Iberian lynx

Measures taken in consecutive conservation programs for the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), including the Life + IBERLINCE Project, coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of the Regional Government of Andalusia and co-financed by the European Union, as well as Captive breeding programs have significantly improved the genetic deterioration that has been experienced by the Iberian lynx, one of the causes that led the species to be in critical danger of extinction.

This has been revealed by the study on the genome of the Iberian lynx have been carried out by scientists at the Doñana Biological Station, under the supervision of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), which was published this Wednesday in the journal Genome Biology.

Scientists have managed to sequence the genome of the Iberian lynx and through the analysis of their DNA have found evidence of "extreme erosion" in their genes motivated by loss of genetic diversity.

Researchers have found that this genetic deterioration, much more pronounced in the Iberian lynx population living in Doñana, has not only slowed down in recent years, but has even improved the status of the species thanks to a key measure developed by the projects led by the Regional Government of Andalusia: the genetic exchange between the populations of Doñana and Sierra Morena that began in 2007 and the genetic management of the captive breeding program.

"Inbreeding involves generally high disease rates, individuals reproduce less, and in general, there is less chance of survival," explains José Antonio Godoy, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Therefore, one of the tasks of the captive breeding centers is the management of genetic variability, so that the animals released in the reintroduction areas contribute the maximum genetic diversity to the target population. "The reintroduction programs have been based on individuals born in captivity, which means they are relatively inbreeding," says Godoy.

Candiles, a copy of Sierra Morena

Researchers have identified 21,257 genes and have ordered and read 2.4 billion letters of DNA from these animals. And they have done so through one of the specimens of the Sierra Morena population, a male named Candiles who is currently part of the captive breeding program.

Thanks to these studies, they have found signs of modifications in genes related to hearing, sight and smell to facilitate the adaptation of the Iberian lynx to its environment.

In addition, the genomes of ten other Iberian lynxes of Doñana and Sierra Morena, the only two surviving populations in the Peninsula, have been studied and a comparative analysis has been carried out with a European lynx to establish the relationships between the two lynxes that inhabit In Eurasia.

As a result, the demographic declines of the Iberian lynx have been shown to be the cause of the low levels of diversity observed, which have improved significantly thanks to the management of the species conservation programs.