Conservation genomics of the European Polecat
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: Biological Sciences
Abstract
Like for many small carnivores in Europe, the populations European polecat (Mustela putorius) have been severely declining due to human activities. While the European populations are showing a slow decline, the UK populations have been driven to near extinction at the beginning of the 20th century. The populations were only found in Wales and Scotland. Changes in practices and active conservation activities have enabled the populations to recover, the European polecat is now found across the whole of UK having been restored to its previous range. However, preliminaries analyses revealed that the expansion of the population range and recolonization has been associated with hybridization with its close relative the domesticated ferret (Mustela putorius furo). The full extent of this introgression, and how, when and where it occurred are not fully understood.
Using samples collected during the Vincent Wildlife Trust national polecat survey and housed at the National Museums Scotland (as well as samples at EI), the project aims at characterising the evolutionary history of the polecat populations in UK, including inferring past demographic events, gene flow during population expansion and investigating present genetic diversity. Low coverage genome sequencing will be applied to genotype existing and museum samples providing genotypes and enabling population reconstruction. Genetic diversity of UK populations will be compared to populations of France, Spain, Germany and Austria, to investigate and quantify the impact of the past population contraction, and subsequent expansion on the current genetic diversity of the polecat populations in UK. Simulations of population contractions and expansion will enable to assess and quantify the impact of the different factors (population size, effective population size, gene flow and introgression) different contribution of
Using samples collected during the Vincent Wildlife Trust national polecat survey and housed at the National Museums Scotland (as well as samples at EI), the project aims at characterising the evolutionary history of the polecat populations in UK, including inferring past demographic events, gene flow during population expansion and investigating present genetic diversity. Low coverage genome sequencing will be applied to genotype existing and museum samples providing genotypes and enabling population reconstruction. Genetic diversity of UK populations will be compared to populations of France, Spain, Germany and Austria, to investigate and quantify the impact of the past population contraction, and subsequent expansion on the current genetic diversity of the polecat populations in UK. Simulations of population contractions and expansion will enable to assess and quantify the impact of the different factors (population size, effective population size, gene flow and introgression) different contribution of
Publications
Etherington GJ
(2022)
Extensive genome introgression between domestic ferret and European polecat during population recovery in Great Britain.
in The Journal of heredity
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
NE/S007334/1 | 30/09/2019 | 29/09/2028 | |||
2465312 | Studentship | NE/S007334/1 | 30/09/2020 | 29/09/2024 | Rebecca Shaw |
Description | Conference Grant Scheme A - Conference and Special Interest Group Award |
Amount | £200 (GBP) |
Organisation | The Genetics Society |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2024 |
End | 01/2024 |
Description | Diversifying the Talent Pipeline |
Amount | £49,020 (GBP) |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2023 |
End | 03/2025 |
Description | Collaboration with Cornell University, George Mason University - Graham Etherington |
Organisation | Cornell University |
Department | Weill Cornell Medicine |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The group is developing computational pipelines to identify and characterise deleterious variants, including copy number variants, associated with inbreeding. |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators are providing samples from endangered black footed ferrets as well as sequencing data from those samples |
Impact | Oral presentation: Conservation Genomics of the Black-footed ferret Conservation Genomics at the Population Level Conference 2022 |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Collaboration with Cornell University, George Mason University - Graham Etherington |
Organisation | George Mason University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The group is developing computational pipelines to identify and characterise deleterious variants, including copy number variants, associated with inbreeding. |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators are providing samples from endangered black footed ferrets as well as sequencing data from those samples |
Impact | Oral presentation: Conservation Genomics of the Black-footed ferret Conservation Genomics at the Population Level Conference 2022 |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | 34th Mustelid Colloquium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A talk given at the 34th Mustelid Colloquium on the gene family dynamics of mustelids, focussing on the European polecat and the Black-footed ferret. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Conservation Genomics at the Population Level |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A talk presented at the Conservation Genomics at the Population level conference on the conservation genomics of the endangered Black-footed ferret. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Darwin Tree of Life at Norwich Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An interactive stand at the Norwich Science Festival which encouraged visitors to take part in an activity that described the different steps involved in a Darwin Tree of Life pipeline, from sample collection to sequencing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Engagement with General Public: Royal Norfolk Show 2022 - Will Nash |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Engagement activities with the general public as part of the Royal Norfolk Show 2022, demonstrating our activities focusing on the application of new technologies to characterise biodiversity |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Gaining confidence in public speaking |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I organised a peer development session for students on the ARIES DTP on communicating their science and gaining confidence in their public speaking skills. This also involved getting an external speaker - Cristina Torrente, Public Engagement Coordinator at Imperial College London, to give an informal lecture on their experience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Meet the Scientists Panel for Norwich Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | This was an activity organised for the Norwich Science Festival where the public could ask a panel of scientists questions about career, education and everyday life as a scientist. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Oil Spill Challenge Workshop for Norwich Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | This was an outreach event funded by the diversifying the talent pipeline NERC grant, and was delivered as a trial session at the Norwich Science Festival satellite event to a class of eight 11+ students. The workshop aimed to encourage students to make evidence based decisions on how to deal with an oil spill, as well as discuss the best course of action based on the science available. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Panel member for a satellite event at the Norwich Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | I was a member of a panel of scientists at different career levels at the Norwich Science festival where the general public could come and meet the scientist. We were asked questions on a recent research and also on our career paths. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Population Genomics of the European Polecat |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Provided a research update on my work to my collaborator Jenny MacPherson at the Vincent Wildlife Trust and colleagues. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Poster presentation at the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution - Uncovering deleterious mutations in the genome of the endangered Black-footed ferret |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A poster presentation on the conservation genomics of the Black-footed ferret. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.smbe2023.org |
Description | Presentation at University of East Anglia Conservation and Ecology Conference (CEEC Rebellion 24) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I gave a 15 minute talk on the overview and results of my current research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Presentation at the PopGroup57 meeting - Uncovering deleterious mutations in the genome of the endangered Black-footed ferret |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An oral presentation given at the PopGroup 57 meeting in St Andrews. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk |
Description | Uncovering deleterious mutations in the genome of the endangered Black-footed Ferret. Black-footed Ferret Genomics Annual Workgroup Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented a research update to the Black-footed ferret working group and discussed our plans for publishing this work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |