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Identification of monozygotic twin chimpanzees by microsatellite analysis
Author(s) -
Zhang Yunwu,
Lawrance Simon K.,
Ryder Oliver A.,
Zhang Yaping,
Isaza Ramiro
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1098-2345
pISSN - 0275-2565
DOI - 10.1002/1098-2345(200010)52:2<101::aid-ajp4>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - zygosity , microsatellite , biology , genetics , allele , dizygotic twins , typing , monozygotic twin , genetic linkage , evolutionary biology , gene , medicine , obstetrics
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 × 10 –11 . Even after excluding linkage of loci on the same chromosome, the probability is still low enough (3.7 × 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. Am. J. Primatol. 52:101–106, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.