High standing diversity masks extreme genetic erosion in a declining snake.
Andrea Vittorio Pozzi, John Benjamin Owens, Bálint Üveges, Tom Major, Ellie Morris, Stuart Graham, Anatoli Togridou, Alexander S. T. Papadopulos, Wolfgang Wüster, Axel Barlow
The paper shows that high average heterozygosity in adders may mask severe genetic erosion due to recent bottlenecks, suggesting whole-genome sequencing is better for assessing genetic risk.
bioRxiv · Sep 19, 2023 · PreprintGenomics