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Genetic diversity and population structure in wild Sichuan rhesus macaques

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Abstract

Because wild rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) populations have suffered major declines, there is a growing need to characterize their genetic and population structure in order to protect the genetic integrity of this species. In this study, we genotyped a sample comprising 120 wild rhesus macaques from six sites in Sichuan Province for 30 nuclear microsatellite (STR) loci using an ABI 3130xl genetic analyzer. Bayesian analyses and PCA clearly differentiated monkeys from Heishui from those at other sites. The samples from all six sites exhibited high gene diversity suggesting that the Sichuan wild rhesus macaque populations are not threatened by a lack of genetic diversity. Deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium was more frequent in the Danba and Heishui populations. This may be due to the more fragmented habitat and less disturbance by humans in this area that foster greater subpopulation structuring than occurs in eastern China. We suggest that this population subdivision is the result of both long-term geographic barriers and human activity.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30970383), National Institutes of Health grants R24RR05090 and R24RR025871 to DGS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an, 625014, People’s Republic of China

    Di Yan Li, Huai Liang Xu, Qing Zhu & Long Zhang

  2. Department of Anthropology and California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Di Yan Li, Jessica Satkoski Trask, David Glenn Smith & Debbie George

  3. Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an, China

    An Chun Cheng

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  1. Di Yan Li
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  2. Huai Liang Xu
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  3. Jessica Satkoski Trask
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  4. Qing Zhu
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  5. An Chun Cheng
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  6. David Glenn Smith
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  8. Long Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Glenn Smith.

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Di Yan Li and Huai Liang Xu contributed equally to this study.

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Li, D.Y., Xu, H.L., Trask, J.S. et al. Genetic diversity and population structure in wild Sichuan rhesus macaques. Mol Biol Rep 40, 3033–3041 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-2377-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-2377-2

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