Román Peña, Alejandra Del Pilar
- Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Universidad Mayor de San Andres
Abstract
Llama (Lama glama) and alpaca (Vicugna pacos) farming in the Bolivian highlands in mixed camelid herds can lead to crossbreeding and introgression, particularly affecting alpacas. This genetic exchange has important implications for camelid phylogeny and production traits, including fiber and meat quality. To investigate patterns of gene flow, we analyzed sex-specific markers (mitochondrial D-loop and Y-chromosome DBY gene) in llamas, alpacas, and hybrids from three Bolivian production systems: Catacora, Ulla Ulla, and Curahuara de Carangas. We included sequences from vicu & ntilde;as and guanacos and identified 37 mitochondrial D-loop haplotypes, as well as three Y-chromosomal DBY haplotypes, revealing significant asymmetric introgression. Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that 6.7 % of llamas and 53.3 % of alpacas carried introgressed haplotypes, indicating extensive maternal gene flow. In contrast, Y-chromosome introgression was lower (
Keywords
Domestic camelids; Hybridization; Introgression; Asymmetric gene flow
Published in
Small Ruminant Research
2026, volume: 254, article number: 107653
Publisher: ELSEVIER
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Genetics and Breeding in Agricultural Sciences
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2025.107653
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/144963