Genetic basis for species vulnerability in the cheetah

Building on earlier allozyme work, this study combined skin-graft acceptance experiments, semen analysis, and assays of genetic markers to argue that the cheetah's extreme genetic uniformity underlies a suite of reproductive and disease vulnerabilities. Reciprocal grafts between unrelated cheetahs were not rejected, implying near-identity at major histocompatibility loci, while ejaculates showed very high proportions of structurally abnormal sperm. The authors linked these traits to elevated juvenile mortality and to a devastating coronavirus outbreak in a captive population. The paper became a touchstone in conservation genetics, illustrating how a monomorphic genome can compromise immune defense and fertility simultaneously, and it shaped how managers think about inbreeding risk in small, isolated felid populations worldwide.