Inbreeding

Inbreeding is a term that defines production of offspring from breeding or mating of organism or individuals that are genetically related which is the contrast of outcrossing which is mating of individuals that are unrelated. By analogy, inbreeding is used in relation to human production but often refers to genetic disorders as well as consequences that might arise from consanguinity or incestuous relationships. Inbreeding can lead to homozygosity which increases the possibility of the offspring getting affected by deleterious or recessive traits.

As a result of this, the population is exposed to a decreased level of biological fitness (known as inbreeding depression) which is the ability of the offspring to reproduce as well as survive. Individuals inheriting deleterious traits are referred to as inbred. The technique of inbreeding is often applied in selective breeding and is often used in the case of livestock. For instance, majority of breeders try to create a desirable, new trait in livestock but they also have to keep an open eye for characteristics that are undesirable so they can be eliminated by carrying out further culling or selective breeding.

In plants, inbred lines are often used as the stock for creating hybrid lines and make use of heterosis. In plants, inbreeding will occur naturally as self pollination. Note that inbreeding in humans can lead to congenital birth defects and this is because there is a likelihood of the homozygous zygotes level been very high in offsprings.

Individuals with 2 gene copies are likely to suffer from disorders such as autosomal recessive for recessive genetic mutation. Except in extremely rare cases, like uniparental disomy or new mutations both parents of the individual with the disorder are carriers of that gene. Such carriers don’t display mutation signs and in some cases they are often unaware of the fact they have a mutated gene. Since relatives have a high proportion of the same genes than is the case in unrelated people, it is likely related parents have similar recessive genes hence the children they have together are placed at a high risk of suffering from a genetic disorder. The risk of the disease been worse will depend on the parents’ genetic relationship.

Children of sibling-sibling or parent child relationships are at a high risk of such defects compared to those of cousin to cousin relationships. Inbreeding also results to higher phenotypic expression of recessive genes in a population than would be expected. Consequently, the first generation of inbred individuals re likely to have health and physical defects which include:

• Reduced fertility in the viability of sperm as well as litter size
• Increase in genetic disorders
• Facial asymmetry that is always changing
• Low birth rate
• High infant mortality
• Facial asymmetry that is always fluctuating
• Immune system loss function
• Small adult sizes
• Depression on the rate of growth which includes weight, height as well as body mass index.

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References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/inbreeding.aspx

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inbreeding