Interindividual variation at genes known to play a role in reproduction may impact reproductive fitness. The Tasmanian devil is an endangered Australian marsupial with low genetic diversity. Recent work has shown concerning declines in productivity in both wild and captive populations over time. Understanding whether functional diversity exists at reproductive genes in the Tasmanian devil is a key first step in identifying genes that may influence productivity. We characterized single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at 214 genes involved in reproduction in 37 Tasmanian devils. Twenty genes contained nonsynonymous substitutions, with genes involved in embryogenesis, fertilization and hormonal regulation of reproduction displaying greater numbers of nonsynonymous SNPs than synonymous SNPs. Two genes, ADAMTS9 and NANOG, showed putative signatures of balancing selection indicating that natural selection is maintaining diversity at these genes despite the species exhibiting low overall levels of genetic diversity. We will use this information in future to examine the interplay between reproductive gene variation and reproductive fitness in Tasmanian devil populations.

中文翻译：

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濒危袋獾生殖基因多样性的表征

已知在生殖中起作用的基因的个体间变异可能会影响生殖健康。袋獾是一种遗传多样性低的濒临灭绝的澳大利亚有袋动物。最近的工作表明，随着时间的推移，野生和圈养种群的生产力下降。了解袋獾的生殖基因是否存在功能多样性是识别可能影响生产力的基因的关键第一步。我们表征了参与 37 只袋獾繁殖的 214 个基因的单核苷酸多态性 (SNP)。20 个基因包含非同义替换，其中涉及胚胎发生、受精和生殖激素调节的基因显示出比同义 SNP 数量更多的非同义 SNP。两个基因，ADAMTS9和NANOG显示出平衡选择的假定特征，表明尽管物种表现出较低的整体遗传多样性水平，但自然选择仍保持这些基因的多样性。我们将在未来使用这些信息来检查塔斯马尼亚恶魔种群中生殖基因变异和生殖健康之间的相互作用。