Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Polymorphisms and Population Genetics in Sichuan Wild Rhesus Macaques

Abstract

Cross-species amplification of twenty-five SSR loci from the DNA of five rhesus macaques of diverse regional origins was conducted using human primers for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Seven of these primer pairs, which consistently and unambiguously amplified polymorphic fragments from these five samples, were also used to amplify SSR loci for 111 Sichuan wild rhesus macaques of five different populations. The analysed microsatellite markers produced 109 alleles, varied from 4 to 16 alleles each locus. The number of alleles per population ranged from 6.79 to 11.38. Polymorphic information content showed that all seven loci were highly informative (mean = 0.9017±0.0166, >0.5). The average observed heterozygosity was less than the expected (mean = 0.6795 and mean = 0.8559, respectively). Genetic differentiation among the populations was considerably low with the overall and pairwise FST values (mean = 0.0375), and showed fairly low level of inbreeding (indicated by a mean FIS value of 0. 0.1991). Maintaining genetic diversity is a major issue in conservation biology. In comparison to other captive Macaca mulatta studies, these wild rhesus macaque populations showed a relatively high level of genetic diversity, and there was low gene flow among these populations. Careful genetic management is important for maintaining genetic variability levels. None of the seven informative loci are linked which screened in this study can be applied in future studies on population and conservation genetics of natural primate populations.