Benefits of Genetics and Biobanking
Integrating conservation and medical genomics to improve human, animal, and ecosystem health.
A central goal of AZA-accredited zoos is to maintain healthy, sustainable animal populations. Genomics, the study of organisms’ DNA, can serve as a valuable tool to achieve this aim by providing insight into the health and robustness of populations. Yet, there remains a gap between animal population managers and genomic researchers when it comes to using these methods for understanding animal health and managing populations. The Center for Zoonomics seeks to bridge the gap between the zoo community and health genetics community, supporting collaborative efforts to answer questions pertaining to population management and animal health.
Effective species conservation requires input from all partners, including zoo personnel, field biologists, and researchers. We aim to create a central place for these stakeholders to connect and collaborate, as well as provide useful information about uniform collection and preservation of biospecimens for genetic research.
Healthy populations are genetically diverse.
A central part of sustaining healthy populations is maintaining high genetic diversity. Zoo populations often derive from a small number of founding individuals, and are therefore vulnerable to the potentially negative effects of restricted genetic diversity. Genomic studies conducted with population management and breeding programs in mind can help maintain maximum genetic diversity within populations. This makes the populations more adaptable to their environments, helps them fight disease, and reduces the frequency of deleterious (harmful) mutations.
The importance of biospecimens
AZA-accredited zoos have the unique opportunity to share knowledge, data, and biomaterials to contribute to animal health and conservation research.
Long-term population management by zoological institutions allows for the accumulation of biospecimens, which are the starting points of conservation genomics studies. In many cases, valuable biospecimans are already being collected during routine veterinary care. We aim to maximize the value of biospecimens by promoting standardized, uniform methods of collection and recording of associated metadata. With a goal of advancing the application of conservation genetics to improve animal and population health, we also strive to enhance the awareness and accessibility surrounding zoological biospecimans.
Genomics can be applied to both
ex situ and in situ populations
Ex situ populations are populations managed outside of the species’ natural habitat, in controlled environments (e.g. zoos). By using genetic data to determine how animals are related and genetically grouped (which is often unknown, especially among the founding animals), we can manage breeding within ex situ populations to maximize genetic diversity, ensuring the health and sustainability of these populations. We can also investigate the genetic predictors of common diseases in zoo populations, enabling our ability to diagnose and treat such diseases.
Genetic methods are used in a variety of ways to manage in situ populations (wild, natural populations), including determining sex and hybrids, as well as identifying distinct breeding groups. Non-genetic methods in the field, such as behavioral observations, can be time-consuming, expensive, and sometimes unfeasible for answering certain questions. Genetics can provide a valuable and often necessary means to answer questions essential to maintaining viable populations.