RE: Bloodlines (was: Thoughts on SMP)

["Griffiths, Richard" <rgriffit@visa.com>]

>Bob wrote:
>
>>IMHO, outbreeding, or crossing bloodlines between two different groups of
>>breeder's stock will help to maintain the genetic diversity that was
>>originally in the wild population from which the stock was extracted.
>
>It might not help maintain wild genetic diversity but it will at least
>prevent an increase in homozygosity, which is a suggestion of lower
>fitness. Yes, there are cases in which inbreeding has not had a significant
>effect on fitness in the long run (European bison) but at some point the
>population had to go through a genetic bottleneck, evident by high
>mortality rates or lower fertility. How our species is going to deal with
>bottlenecks? We do not know and we do not know if it will make it through
>the bottleneck like the European bison. All in all, the negative
>experiences of inbreeding seem to outweight the successful ones.

>From the experiences of the Bounty crew, the issue of success becomes an
interesting debate--but the crew of the Bounty that mutinied was not the
genetic 'best of breed' either, since many were shanghaied from pubs,
gaols, and other similar places. And humans probably need a more diverse
genetic pool to start with just because of all the problems of our
genetic heritage--otherwise, after some 30,000 generations, we should
all be fairly homogeneous.
>
>Julio  
>
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