HUMAN MICROSATELLITES APPLICABLE FOR ANALYSIS OF GENETIC-VARIATION INAPES AND OLD-WORLD MONKEYS

In studies of the genetics and social structure of primate populations there is a need to develop highly variable genetic markers for charac terizing mating success and the nature of population movement or chang e through time. Because of their highly polymorphic nature, relatively simple amplification and typing, and the possibility of noninvasive s ampling, microsatellites have become the molecular tool of choice in s uch studies. However, until recently it was assumed that many microsat ellite loci, which are primarily situated in noncoding regions of the genome, evolve too rapidly to be applicable in evolutionarily divergen t species. This has often resulted in the lime-consuming process of cl oning and sequencing microsatellites in new species. Here we describe the application of 11 human microsatellite primer pairs to a large gro up of primate species. The loci described are informative in all major groups of apes and Old World monkeys, although levels of allelic vari ability and heterozygosity differ across species. We confirm that with the use of appropriate universally applicable PCR conditions, a subse t of human microsatellites are informative genetic markers in a wide r ange of divergent primate taxa.