Work

Genetic structure of chimpanzee populations

Year: 2005

Type: article

Abstract: Little is known about the history and population structure of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, in part because of an extremely poor fossil record.To address this, we report the largest genetic study of the chimpanzees to date, examining 310 microsatellites in 84 common chimpanzees and bonobos.We infer three common chimpanzee populations, which correspond to the previously defined labels of ''western,'' ''central,'' and ''eastern,'' and find little evidence of gene flow between them.There is tentative evidence for structure within western chimpanzees, but we do not detect distinct additional populations.The data also provide historical insights, demonstrating that the western chimpanzee population diverged first, and that the eastern and central populations are more closely related in time.

Source: PLoS Genetics

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.0030066.eor

Authors: Celine Becquet, Nick Patterson, Anne C. Stone, Molly Przeworski, David Reich

Institutions: University of Chicago, Broad Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Arizona State University, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Genetic diversity and population structure

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,043

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health