Inbreeding
hideInbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. If practiced repeatedly, it can lead to exposure of recessive, deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is called inbreeding depression. Deleterious alleles causing inbreeding depression can subsequently be removed through culling. This is known as genetic purging.
Livestock breeders often practice inbreeding to "fix" desirable characteristics within a population. However, they must then cull unfit offspring, especially when trying to establish the new and desirable trait in their stock.
In plant breeding, inbred lines are used as stocks for the creation of hybrid lines to make use of the heterosis effect. Inbreeding in plants also occurs naturally in the form of self-pollination.
For more information about Inbreeding, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with inbreeding
Orangutans struggle to survive as palm oil booms
Oct 22, 2009 |
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Cinta, a baby orangutan found lost and alone in a vast Borneo palm oil plantation, now clings to a tree at a sanctuary for the great apes, staring intently at dozens of tourists.
Pandas could be extinct in 2-3 generations: report
Aug 17, 2009 |
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China's giant panda could be extinct in just two to three generations as rapid economic development is infringing on its way of life, state media said on Monday, citing an expert at conservation group WWF.
Disease threat may change how frogs mate
Jul 27, 2009 |
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Dr Amber Teacher, studying a post-doctorate at Royal Holloway, University of London, has discovered evidence that a disease may be causing a behavioural change in frogs. The research, published in the August edition of Molecular Ec ...
Bioethicists call for federal regulation of genetic ancestry testing
Jul 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- As the popularity of take-home DNA kits to trace ancestry or calculate the risk for serious medical conditions grows, there is an increasingly critical need for federal oversight of "direct-to consumer" genetic ...
Inbred bumblebees less successful
Jul 02, 2009 |
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Declining bumblebee populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which can trigger a downward spiral of further decline. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology have provided the first proof ...
Beetles drive groundbreaking conservation project
May 19, 2009 |
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They are cursed the world over for contaminating food supplies and are a huge commercial pest, but the humble flour beetle is about to play a significant role in the management of endangered species.
The role of inbreeding in the extinction of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty
Apr 15, 2009 |
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The powerful Habsburg dynasty ruled Spain and its empire from 1516 to 1700 but when King Charles II died in 1700 without any children from his two marriages, the male line died out and the French Bourbon dynasty came to power ...
Inbreeding taking toll on Michigan wolves
Apr 04, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The two dozen or so gray wolves that wander an island chain in northwestern Lake Superior are suffering from backbone malformations caused by genetic inbreeding, posing yet another challenge to their ...
Researchers take first look at the genetic dynamics of inbreeding depression
Mar 12, 2009 |
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Researchers have taken a first look at the broad genetic changes that accompany reproductive declines in inbred populations. Although scientists have known for more than a century that small populations of ...
Inbreeding insects cast light on longer female lifespans
Biology /
Feb 06, 2009 |
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Inbreeding can unexpectedly extend male lifespan. Insect experiments described in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology have shown that, in seed beetles, inbreeding causes males to live longer, while shortening ...
