Mitochondrial DNA of the Mauritian macaques (Macaca fascicularis): An example of the founder effect

Abstract

Macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were introduced to the island of Mauritius approximately 400 years ago. This study compares the mitochondrial DNA of macaques on Mauritius with those from Indonesia and the Philippines. The goal is to measure the amount of evolutionary change that has occurred in this isolated population over 400 years, and to address questions regarding the origin of the Mauritian founders. Amplification of the control region of the mitochondrial genome via the polymerase chain reaction yielded an 1800 base pair DNA fragment which was surveyed for variation using restriction endonucleases. Fifty-two macaques were separated into 17 haplotypes by mapping the restriction sites. No haplotypes were shared among the three populations, and only two closely related haplotypes appeared in the Mauritian sample. Nucleotide variation in the mitochondrial DNA in the Mauritian sample was 10-fold less than the Indonesian and Filipino samples. In contrast, allozyme data estimates of genetic diversity on Mauritius are similar to populations from the ancestral range. The evidence of the more severe bottleneck as measured by mitochondrial data may be explained in part by almost exclusive male dispersal in this species, and may support models of founder events in which rapid population growth prevents substantial loss of nuclear variation. The mitochondrial evidence supports the morphologically and historically based hypothesis that the original founders came from Indonesia.

Unusually High Frequency MHC Class I Alleles in Mauritian Origin Cynomolgus Macaques

“…Anthropological and historical evidence suggests that the macaques were introduced to the island ϳ400 years ago by European seafarers (60). mtDNA analysis of Mauritian origin macaques supports the existence of a population bottleneck at the time of introduction; in fact, the founding population may have included only a single female (61). Although low mtDNA divergence does not necessarily correlate with low nuclear gene variability, other studies have found the genetic diversity of nuclear genes in this population is lower than in Asian origin Cynomolgus macaques (62).…”

“…Mauritius is Ͻ2000 km (2), with unequal monkey distribution throughout the small island. Previous analysis of mtDNA using monkeys captured from different sites did not observe genetic stratification by habitat, providing anecdotal evidence that subpopulations of macaques on the island are genetically homogenous (61). Do Mauritian origin Cynomolgus macaques represent a reasonable alternative animal model for AIDS research?…”

Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVmac239 Infection of Major Histocompatibility Complex-Identical Cynomolgus Macaques from Mauritius

“…The limited MHC repertoire of MCM may reflect selective advantages of these haplotypes for the Mauritian environment. It appears more likely that the limited MHC diversity described here is the result of a classic population bottleneck or founder effect (22,30,36; A. J. Tosi and C. S. Coke, submitted for publication). Consequently, there is little reason to assume that the relative genetic homogeneity of MCM is restricted to the MHC.…”

Transcriptionally Abundant Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I Alleles Are Fundamental to Nonhuman Primate Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Specific CD8+T Cell Responses

“…MCMs are a geographically isolated population descended from a small founder population over the last 500 years (19). Consequently, MCMs have extremely simple MHC genetics consisting of seven major haplotypes, termed M1 to M7 (2,29).…”