10.5061/DRYAD.6Q573N5ZN
Al-Ghafri, Mataab
0000-0002-4918-1530
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
White, Patrick
Edinburgh Napier University
Briers, Robert
0000-0003-0341-1203
Edinburgh Napier University
Dicks, Kara
0000-0002-3764-4315
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Ball, Alex
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Ghazali, Muhammad
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Ross, Steve
Diwan of Royal Court
Al-Said, Taimur
Diwan of Royal Court
Al-Amri, Haitham
Diwan of Royal Court
Al-Umairi, Mudhafar
Diwan of Royal Court
Al Saadi, Hani
0000-0002-2511-0527
Diwan of Royal Court
Aka’ak, Ali
Diwan of Royal Court
Hardan, Ahmed
Diwan of Royal Court
Zabanoot, Nasser
Diwan of Royal Court
Craig, Mark
Al Ain Zoo
Senn, Helen
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Genetic diversity of the Nubian ibex in Oman as revealed by mitochondrial DNA
Dryad
dataset
2021
Nubian ibex
cytochrome b
d-loop
Oman
2021-11-12T00:00:00Z
2021-11-12T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210125
19204 bytes
4
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) is patchily distributed across parts of
Africa and Arabia. In Oman, it is one of the few free-ranging wild mammals
found in the central and southern regions. Its population is declining due
to habitat degradation, human expansion, poaching, and fragmentation. Here
we investigated the population’s genetic diversity using mitochondrial DNA
(D-loop 186bp and cytochrome b 487bp). We found that the Nubian ibex in
the southern region of Oman was more diverse (D-loop HD; 0.838) compared
to the central region (0.511) and gene flow between them was restricted.
We compared the genetic profiles of wild Nubian ibex from Oman with
captive ibex. A Bayesian phylogenetic tree showed that wild Nubian ibex
form a distinct clade independent from captive animals. This divergence
was supported by high mean distances (D-loop 0.126,cytochrome b 0.0528)
and high FST statistics (D-loop 0.725,cytochrome b 0.968). These results
indicate that captive ibex are highly unlikely to have originated from the
wild population in Oman and the considerable divergence suggests that the
wild population in Oman should be treated as a distinct taxonomic unit.
Further nuclear genetic work will be required to fully elucidate the
degree of global taxonomic divergence of Nubian ibex populations.