# Any research available on incest



## Riley ann (Apr 3, 2019)

I’m not considering it, but I was wondering if there was any scientific evidence on the pros/cons on incest. Just for curiosity


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## KarenSoCal (Apr 3, 2019)

WHAT?? Sure hope you mean tortoises!


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## Millerlite (Apr 3, 2019)

Riley ann said:


> I’m not considering it, but I was wondering if there was any scientific evidence on the pros/cons on incest. Just for curiosity


Incest is a type of interbreeding. Yes there is cons to it mostly the homozygotes of alleles go up in genotype frequency while the hetrryzygote of alleles go down in genotype frequency. This can lead to problem because diseases that a recessive will be expressed more and more as the homozygousity of recessive goes up... also interbreeding has shown to have higher infant mortality, deformed infants, not fully developed, plus any type of diseases that would be shielded by heteozygote will be expressed more over generations. A pro can be if there is not a lot if individuals than inbreeding is better than no breeding..also since homozygousity goes up, it is possible that the allele is not a disease but rather a genotype that is a benefit, this means the generations that get the homozygous of the good beneficial alleles they can technically be stronger. Agictulture uses this to advantages to.get higher yield, or to pick traits that are resistant to certain bugs and stuff like that. 

Kyle


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