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Is genetic drift to blame for testicular dysgenesis syndrome in Semliki chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii )?
Author(s) -
Rich Alicia M.,
Wasserman Michael D.,
Deimel Caroline,
Breeden Scott K.,
Kaestle Frederika,
Hunt Kevin D.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of medical primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.31
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1600-0684
pISSN - 0047-2565
DOI - 10.1111/jmp.12352
Subject(s) - biology , troglodytes , population , genetics , evolutionary biology , zoology , demography , sociology
Background We present 3 likely cases of testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS) within a community of chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ). We tested whether genetic drift may be the culprit, as a genetic cause has been suspected to account for TDS among other wildlife. Methods We successfully sequenced a 367‐bp segment spanning the first hypervariable region within the D‐loop of the mitochondrial genome for 78 DNA samples. Results We found 24 polymorphic sequence sites consisting of 7 singletons and 17 parsimony informative sites. This sample contained 9 haplotypes with a diversity index of 0.78 (SD = 0.03). All tests against the null hypothesis of neutral polymorphisms were non‐significant ( P > .10). The mismatch distribution of pairwise differences does not fit a Poisson's curve (raggedness index = 0.166; SSD = 0.12; P = 1). Conclusions Thus, we found no significant signs of genetic isolation, population expansion, or genetic bottleneck. Alternative causes of TDS and how they might pertain to this population are discussed.