Fig. 5: Genetic load in selected wolf individuals in Asia and North America.
From: Continent-wide view of genomic diversity and divergence in the wolves of Asia
A Total genetic load, B masked load, and C realized load for 13 wolf individuals within five populations. Wolves found in historically smaller populations (Mexican, Indian, and Tibetan) have a lower total load, lower masked load, and higher realized load. The total derived allele count of each wolf within the five populations, where generally Mexican, Indian, and Tibetan wolves show overall less derived alleles. The derived allele count of D includes all derived alleles, E Loss of function (LOF) mutations classified as high impact, F missense mutation classified as moderate impact, and G synonymous mutations classified as low impact per 100,000 derived alleles found in non-coding regions, assumed to be neutral. When taking into account differences in the overall number of derived counts, Mexican, Indian, and Tibetan wolves show a reduced number of missense and synonymous mutations, but not for loss-of-function mutations, compared to central Asian and southwest Asian wolves.
