The genetic diversity within the immune system of giant panda is very high, making them more resilient to climate changes than previously believed.
According to biologists, only 1,500 giant pandas exist in the world currently, making them a highly endangered species. Their habitat is confined to six isolated mountain ranges in south-central China. Previous studies of panda fossils revealed that this species once freely roamed through parts of Burma and northern Vietnam. However, because of habitat fragmentation and inability to adapt to climate changes, their numbers rapidly decreased. In 1990, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature was forced to list the species as endangered.
However, a new study reveals that the genetic diversity in the immune system of giant pandas is higher than previously believed, making them more resilient to climatic and environmental changes than other endangered animals. Researchers from Zhejiang University in China collected genetic material from the blood, skin, and fecal material of 218 wild pandas from all the six isolated mountain ranges the bears now roam. The researchers studied the histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, the major factors in the immune system of the giant panda. It is very important that animals have genetic diversity otherwise even a small threat can wipe out the entire population.
"The assumption is that a decrease in genetic variation and a lack of exchange between isolated populations increase the likelihood of extinction by reducing the population's ability to adapt to changing environments," the team writes in a report that details their findings in the journal BioMed Central.
Researchers found that giant pandas had more genetic diversity than other endangered species like Bengal tiger and Namibian cheetah, but less diversity than the more stable brown bear.
According to Paul Hohenlohe, a biologist at the University of Idaho, the findings of this new study suggest that pandas didn't experience the same "bottleneck" that biologists think cheetahs experienced at some point in the animal's history. The bottleneck caused cheetahs to become more genetically uniformed than any other wild animal, Live Science reports.
"If you need to capture 10 pandas for a captive breeding program, then you choose those 10 to encompass the most diversity," Hohenlohe told the website. "You can do that by getting them from multiple populations, or one population that has the most diversity."
The study will help the scientists to determine what kind of breeding programs to adopt to maintain the genetic diversity of the pandas and also increase their numbers.
