Research
Lynx reintroduction from a bottlenecked source exposes a lethal genetic defect
Nature · By Janna Niehaus ·
The Brief
- A recessive loss-of-function allele causing lethal multi-organ pathology was found in a source population used for a lynx reintroduction programme.
- The source population was bottlenecked, and the allele has increased in frequency there.
- The study was published online in Nature Ecology & Evolution on 13 November 2026.
Why it matters
Reintroduction programmes that draw on small, bottlenecked source populations can carry harmful recessive alleles unnoticed, which can later reduce survival of released animals.
Who’s affected
- wildlife managers and conservation biologists running reintroduction programmes
- conservation geneticists studying small or bottlenecked populations
- #lynx
- #reintroduction
- #conservation genetics
- #recessive allele
- #population bottleneck
Nature Ecology & Evolution, Published online: 13 November 2026; doi:10.1038/s41559-026-03204-0 A recessive loss-of-function allele causing lethal multi-organ pathology is found to have been present in a source population for a lynx reintroduction programme, and has increased in…
Timeline
Study published online in Nature Ecology & Evolution reporting the lethal recessive allele in the lynx source population
nature.com
Lynx reintroduction from a bottlenecked source exposes a lethal genetic defect