Genetic variability in four Alouatta species measured by means of nine DNA microsatellite markers: genetic structure and recent bottlenecks.
We used microsatellite DNA to study the population genetics of 4 Alouatta species from Central and South America. Our main findings include the following: (1) A. seniculus had the highest level of microsatellite variability while A. caraya and A. palliata had the lowest mean number of alleles per locus and the lowest expected heterozygosity, respectively; (2) the samples of A. seniculus and A. palliata came from different regions and were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) which may indicate a Wahlund effect and differentiated gene pools -- in contrast, A. macconnelli and A. caraya were in HWE; (3) the microsatellite genetic heterogeneity of the 4 Alouatta species was similar to the karyotype divergence found among these Alouatta species; the species pair with the lowest level of heterogeneity (genetic differentiation) was A. seniculus/A. caraya, while the Central American species, A. palliata, was highly differentiated from the other 3 South American species; (4) we recommend the establishment of a conservation plan to help protect A. caraya because the Cornuet and Luikart procedure demonstrated a recent bottleneck for this species.
Ruiz-Garcia
M
M
Unidad de Genética (Grupo de Genética de Poblaciones-Biología Evolutiva), Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia. mruiz@javeriana.edu.co
Escobar-Armel
P
P
Alvarez
D
D
Mudry
M
M
Ascunce
M
M
Gutierrez-Espeleta
G
G
Shostell
J M
JM
D000483:Alleles; D000508:Alouatta / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D003364:Costa Rica; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005788:Gene Pool; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008800:Mexico; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D013020:South America; D013045:Species Specificity