Chao Du, Bai Mo, Wujiao Li, Wencong Liu, Zongxiu Hu and Yongtao Xu*
Background: Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are extensively used in the field of medical and psychological research as a valuable model organism. To explore the breeding potential and exchange of germplasm resources for rhesus monkeys, genetic diversity derived from two different captive populations was comparatively evaluated based on polymorphic microsatellite markers.
Methods: Fifteen polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity parameters. Micro-Checker was used to check for genotyping errors due to null alleles, allelic dropout, and stuttering. Hardy– Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) test were analyzed using Genepop on the web. The best K value was calculated by Structure Harvester, CLUMPP_Windows and distruct were used to visualize the individual coefficients of membership in the subpopulation. PcoA and Molecular variance analysis (AMOVA) analysis were used by GenAlex.
Results: A total of 155 alleles were identified, with the number of alleles per locus ranging from 7 to 15, giving an average number of 10.3 alleles per locus. The mean Number of effective alleles (Ne), observed Heterozygosity (Ho), expected Heterozygosity (He), and the Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) were 5.602, 0.7297, 0.8016, and 0.7716, respectively. The populations Hengshu (Hereafter HS) and Xijie (hereafter XJ) shared partial common alleles; however, the other left alleles in XJ were not detected. Structure analysis indicated that two populations belong to three genetic lineages. AMOVA showed that the genetic variance was 91% within individuals, while it was 9% among populations, respectively.
Conclusion: Higher genetic diversity level of captive population in HS than that in XJ, population structure analysis showed two rhesus monkey populations had no significant genetic differentiation. These results can provide a beneficial reference for the exchange of germplasm resources and genetic management.
