title: Identification of monozygotic twin chimpanzees by microsatellite analysis.
abstract: Zygosity determination is important for epidemiological, biological, obstetric, and prognostic studies in both human and nonhuman primates. In this study, microsatellite loci were used to screen a pair of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) twins and their parents. The twins share identical alleles at all loci tested. The probability of dizygotic origin is estimated to be 2.9 x 10(-11). Even after excluding linkage of loci on the same chromosome, the probability is still low enough (3.7 x 10(-9)) to exclude dizygotic origin. MHC typing was also done on Patr-DRB and Patr-DQB loci and the twins share identical alleles at both loci, consistent with the microsatellite results. Together these results demonstrate a monozygotic origin for the chimp twins. Our results suggest that microsatellite analysis is a powerful method for zygosity determination, which can be screened reliably and efficiently.
authors.affiliation: Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego, California 92112, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lawrance
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Ryder
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Isaza
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics*; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics*