Zhang Y, Lawrance S K, Ryder O A, Zhang Y, Isaza R
Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego, California 92112, USA.
Am J Primatol. 2000 Oct;52(2):101-6. doi: 10.1002/1098-2345(200010)52:2<101::AID-AJP4>3.0.CO;2-6.
Zygosity determination is important for epidemiological, biological, obstetric, and prognostic studies in both human and nonhuman primates. In this study, microsatellite loci were used to screen a pair of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) twins and their parents. The twins share identical alleles at all loci tested. The probability of dizygotic origin is estimated to be 2.9 x 10(-11). Even after excluding linkage of loci on the same chromosome, the probability is still low enough (3.7 x 10(-9)) to exclude dizygotic origin. MHC typing was also done on Patr-DRB and Patr-DQB loci and the twins share identical alleles at both loci, consistent with the microsatellite results. Together these results demonstrate a monozygotic origin for the chimp twins. Our results suggest that microsatellite analysis is a powerful method for zygosity determination, which can be screened reliably and efficiently.
