PATERNITY EXCLUSION IN A COMMUNITY OF WILD CHIMPANZEES USING HYPERVARIABLE SIMPLE SEQUENCE REPEATS

We report the use of hypervariable simple sequence repeat (SSR) nuclea r loci to study paternity in a community of wild chimpanzees (Pan trog lodytes schweinfurthii) in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. All 43 livin g members of a habituated community were sampled and 35 were genotyped at 8 SSR loci using DNA amplified from hair. Paternity exclusions wer e performed for 25 chimpanzees including 10 for whom the mother was al so genotyped. In each case 12-20 males were potential fathers based on their age and/or direct observation of sexual behaviour. 179 tests in volving potential father/offspring combinations were performed. In fou r cases the data permit the probable identification of the previously undetermined father; these are the first such determinations for free- ranging chimpanzees, and the first based on non-invasive sampling. In another four cases we were able to exclude all but two to five potenti al fathers, and in the remaining cases we were able to exclude all liv ing males. For molecular ecologists SSR genotype databases offer impor tant advantages over currently popular minisatellite DNA fingerprintin g: they can be analysed unequivocally using traditional population gen etics techniques and they can be expanded through time and space by ot her researchers.