Analysis of the Genetic Relationships among Thai Gibbon Species Using AFLP Markers

Abstract

Cytogenetic studies of three gibbon species using conventional banding patterns were investigated showing an identical number of 44 diploid chromosomes. They are assumed to have common evolutionary relationships. For in depth study, molecular markers were assessed using the Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) method. With seven successful primer combinations, a total of 1669 scorable bands were generated. The resulting bands were used for dendrogram construction. From the dendrogram, the individuals of Hylobates lar are closely related to H. agilis more than H. pileatus with a bootstrap value of 78%. Averages of inter-specific genetic similarity values among all gibbon species studied are 67.15% (between H. lar and H. pileatus) to 71.03% (between H. lar and H. agilis). In summary three gibbon species show genetic stability within a species. The development of specific molecular markers of a species is beneficial for genetic differentiation of this group of primates.