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Volume 13
Issue 11
10.3390/genes13112124
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Article

Genomic Consequences of Fragmentation in the Endangered Fennoscandian Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus)

by
Christopher A. Cockerill
1,
Malin Hasselgren
1,
Nicolas Dussex
1,2,3,
Love Dalén
1,2,3,
Johanna von Seth
1,2,
Anders Angerbjörn
1,
Johan F. Wallén
1,
Arild Landa
4,
Nina E. Eide
4,
Øystein Flagstad
4,
Dorothee Ehrich
5,
Aleksandr Sokolov
6,
Natalya Sokolova
6 and
Karin Norén
1,*
1
Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
2
Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
3
Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 11418 Stockholm, Sweden
4
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7485 Trondheim, Norway
5
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT Arctic University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
6
Arctic Research Station of Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Zelenaya Gorka Str. 21, 629400 Labytnangi, Russia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Genes 2022, 13(11), 2124; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13112124
Submission received: 7 September 2022 / Revised: 6 October 2022 / Accepted: 10 October 2022 / Published: 15 November 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polar Genomics)
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Abstract

Accelerating climate change is causing severe habitat fragmentation in the Arctic, threatening the persistence of many cold-adapted species. The Scandinavian arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) is highly fragmented, with a once continuous, circumpolar distribution, it struggled to recover from a demographic bottleneck in the late 19th century. The future persistence of the entire Scandinavian population is highly dependent on the northernmost Fennoscandian subpopulations (Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula), to provide a link to the viable Siberian population. By analyzing 43 arctic fox genomes, we quantified genomic variation and inbreeding in these populations. Signatures of genome erosion increased from Siberia to northern Sweden indicating a stepping-stone model of connectivity. In northern Fennoscandia, runs of homozygosity (ROH) were on average ~1.47-fold longer than ROH found in Siberia, stretching almost entire scaffolds. Moreover, consistent with recent inbreeding, northern Fennoscandia harbored more homozygous deleterious mutations, whereas Siberia had more in heterozygous state. This study underlines the value of documenting genome erosion following population fragmentation to identify areas requiring conservation priority. With the increasing fragmentation and isolation of Arctic habitats due to global warming, understanding the genomic and demographic consequences is vital for maintaining evolutionary potential and preventing local extinctions.
Keywords: inbreeding; runs of homozygosity; bottleneck; fragmentation; mutational load; conservation inbreeding; runs of homozygosity; bottleneck; fragmentation; mutational load; conservation

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MDPI and ACS Style

Cockerill, C.A.; Hasselgren, M.; Dussex, N.; Dalén, L.; von Seth, J.; Angerbjörn, A.; Wallén, J.F.; Landa, A.; Eide, N.E.; Flagstad, Ø.; et al. Genomic Consequences of Fragmentation in the Endangered Fennoscandian Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus). Genes 2022, 13, 2124. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13112124

AMA Style

Cockerill CA, Hasselgren M, Dussex N, Dalén L, von Seth J, Angerbjörn A, Wallén JF, Landa A, Eide NE, Flagstad Ø, et al. Genomic Consequences of Fragmentation in the Endangered Fennoscandian Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus). Genes. 2022; 13(11):2124. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13112124

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cockerill, Christopher A., Malin Hasselgren, Nicolas Dussex, Love Dalén, Johanna von Seth, Anders Angerbjörn, Johan F. Wallén, Arild Landa, Nina E. Eide, Øystein Flagstad, and et al. 2022. "Genomic Consequences of Fragmentation in the Endangered Fennoscandian Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus)" Genes 13, no. 11: 2124. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13112124

APA Style

Cockerill, C. A., Hasselgren, M., Dussex, N., Dalén, L., von Seth, J., Angerbjörn, A., Wallén, J. F., Landa, A., Eide, N. E., Flagstad, Ø., Ehrich, D., Sokolov, A., Sokolova, N., & Norén, K. (2022). Genomic Consequences of Fragmentation in the Endangered Fennoscandian Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus). Genes, 13(11), 2124. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13112124

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