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Founder events, isolation, and inbreeding: Intercontinental genetic structure of the domestic ferret

Overview of attention for article published in Evolutionary Applications, December 2017
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (90th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (92nd percentile)

Mentioned by

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2 news outlets
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5 X users
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1 Facebook page
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1 Redditor

Citations

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34 Mendeley
Title
Founder events, isolation, and inbreeding: Intercontinental genetic structure of the domestic ferret
Published in
Evolutionary Applications, December 2017
DOI 10.1111/eva.12565
Pubmed ID
Authors

Kyle D. Gustafson, Michelle G. Hawkins, Tracy L. Drazenovich, Robert Church, Susan A. Brown, Holly B. Ernest

Abstract

Domestication and breeding for human-desired morphological traits can reduce population genetic diversity via founder events and artificial selection, resulting in inbreeding depression and genetic disorders. The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) was domesticated from European polecats (M. putorius), transported to multiple continents, and has been artificially selected for several traits. The ferret is now a common pet, a laboratory model organism, and feral ferrets can impact native biodiversity. We hypothesized global ferret trade resulted in distinct international genetic clusters and that ferrets transported to other continents would have lower genetic diversity than ferrets from Europe because of extreme founder events and no hybridization with wild polecats or genetically diverse ferrets. To assess these hypotheses, we genotyped 765 ferrets at 31 microsatellites from 11 countries among the continents of North America, Europe, and Australia and estimated population structure and genetic diversity. Fifteen M. putorius were genotyped for comparison. Our study indicated ferrets exhibit geographically distinct clusters and highlights the low genetic variation in certain countries. Australian and North American clusters have the lowest genetic diversities and highest inbreeding metrics whereas the United Kingdom (UK) cluster exhibited intermediate genetic diversity. Non-UK European ferrets had high genetic diversity, possibly a result of introgression with wild polecats. Notably, Hungarian ferrets had the highest genetic diversity and Hungary is the only country sampled with two wild polecat species. Our research has broad social, economic, and biomedical importance. Ferret owners and veterinarians should be made aware of potential inbreeding depression. Breeders in North America and Australia would benefit by incorporating genetically diverse ferrets from mainland Europe. Laboratories using ferrets as biomedical organisms should consider diversifying their genetic stock and incorporating genetic information into bioassays. These results also have forensic applications for conserving the genetics of wild polecat species and for identifying and managing sources of feral ferrets causing ecosystem damage.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 34 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 34 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 7 21%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 18%
Other 5 15%
Student > Bachelor 4 12%
Student > Master 3 9%
Other 3 9%
Unknown 6 18%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 12 35%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 4 12%
Medicine and Dentistry 3 9%
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine 3 9%
Environmental Science 2 6%
Other 3 9%
Unknown 7 21%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 20. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 November 2017.
All research outputs
#1,829,909
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Evolutionary Applications
#212
of 1,579 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#40,754
of 447,701 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Evolutionary Applications
#3
of 41 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,579 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.6. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 447,701 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 41 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.