Adaptive genetic variation at three loci in South African vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and the role of selection within Primates
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Anthropology, Biodiversity, Biogeography, Genetics
- Keywords
- pathogen diversity, environmental factors, adaptive variation, vervet monkey
- Copyright
- © 2018 Coetzer et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2018. Adaptive genetic variation at three loci in South African vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and the role of selection within Primates. PeerJ Preprints 6:e26577v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.26577v1
Abstract
Vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) are one of the most widely distributed non-human primate species found in South Africa. They occur across all the South African provinces, inhabiting a large variety of habitats. These habitats vary sufficiently that it can be assumed that various factors such as pathogen diversity could influence populations in different ways. In turn, these factors could lead to varied levels of selection at specific fitness linked loci. The Toll-like Receptor gene family, which play an integral role in vertebrate innate immunity, is a group of fitness linked loci which has been the focus of much research. In this study, we assessed the level of genetic variation at partial sequences of two TLR loci (TLR4 and 7) and a reproductively linked gene, acrosin (ACR), across the different habitat types within the vervet monkey distribution range. Gene variation and selection estimates were also made among 11 – 21 primate species. Low levels of genetic variation for all three gene regions were observed within vervet monkeys. TLR7 variation was positively correlated with high mean annual rainfall, which was linked to increased pathogen abundance. Population genetic variation at TLR4 might have been influenced by numerous factors such as pathogens and climatic conditions. The ACR exonic regions showed no variation in vervet monkeys, which could point to the occurrence of a selective sweep. The TLR4 and TLR7 results for the among primate analyses was mostly in line with previous studies, indicating a higher rate of evolution for TLR4. Within primates, ACR also showed signs of positive selection, which was congruent with previous reports on mammals. Important additional information to the already existing vervet monkey knowledge base was gained from this study. Conservation agencies can use this information for future management planning involving translocations of this species.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
Supplemental Information
The minimum spanning networks for vervet monkey (A) acrosin (ACR), (B) Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and (C) TLR7
The size of each circle is in relation to the number of sequences analysed.
Sample list of 81 vervet monkeys sampled from across the vervet monkey distribution range for the current study
Locality information, group ID, no of troops per group, sex, sample ID and DNA amplification success for each gene fragment is provided.
Sample list of all outgroup taxa used during analyses, with the associated GenBank accession numbers
Site-by-site results for selection obtained from six different selection analyses
Significance values (p-value/Bayes Factor/Posterior probability) are in bold. Candidate sites identified by at least two Datamonkey methods and/or PAML M8 model are highlighted in grey.