Calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus content of hair from two populations of rhesus monkeys

Noninvasive molecular sexing: an evaluation and validation of the SRY- and amelogenin-based method in three new lemur species

Many lemur species are arboreal, elusive, and/or nocturnal and are consequently difficult to approach, observe and catch. In addition, most of them are endangered. For these reasons, non-invasive sampling is especially useful in primates including lemurs. A key issue in conservation and ecological studies is to identify the sex of the sampled individuals to investigate sex-biased dispersal, parentage, social organization and population sex ratio. Several molecular tests of sex are available in apes and monkeys, but only a handful of them work in the lemuriform clade. Among these tests, the coamplification of the SRY gene with the amelogenin X gene using strepsirhine-specific X primers seems particularly promising, but the reliability and validity of this sexing test have not been properly assessed yet. In this study, we (i) show that this molecular sexing test works on three additional lemur species (Microcebus tavaratra, Propithecus coronatus and P. verreauxi) from two previously untested genera and one previously untested family, suggesting that these markers are likely to be universal among lemurs and other strepsirrhines; (ii) provide the first evidence that this PCR-based sexing test works on degraded DNA obtained from noninvasive samples; (iii) validate the approach using a large number of known-sex individuals and a multiple-tubes approach, and show that mismatches between the field sex and the final molecular consensus sex occur in less than 10% of all the samples and that most of these mismatches were likely linked to incorrect sex determinations in the field rather than genotyping errors.

Copper, iron, manganese, and zinc content of hair from two populations of rhesus monkeys

The concentrations of the elements copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) in hair of caged (in Maryland) and free-ranging (in Puerto Rico) rhesus monkey populations were determined. Significant chronological age-related decreases were evident for the trace elements Mn and Zn in both populations (P < or = 0.01) and for Cu and Fe in free-ranging monkeys (P < or = 0.005). The only overall gender difference was higher hair Mn concentration in free-ranging males than in females (P < 0.03). There were no significant differences in hair Cu, Fe, or Mn related to pregnancy status. Hair Zn was lower in samples from pregnant than from nonpregnant monkeys from the caged monkeys (P < or = 0.05), but did not differ in the free-ranging monkeys. Comparison of the two populations revealed that hair Zn levels were significantly higher in caged vs free-ranging animals (P < 0.001). We attribute this higher hair Zn in the caged monkeys to contact and ingestion of Zn from their galvanized enclosures. Hair iron levels were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in free-ranging monkeys, possibly as a result of Fe-rich soil ingestion from their environment. These data support continued investigation of the use of hair as an indicator of the exposure of large groups or populations to potentially high levels of specific minerals, and the use of nonhuman primates as models for the study of trace element deficiency and/or toxicity in humans.