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. 2020 Nov 23;10(1):20328.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-77132-9.

Genetic monogamy and mate choice in a pair-living primate

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Genetic monogamy and mate choice in a pair-living primate

Sofya Dolotovskaya et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

In pair-living mammals, genetic monogamy is extremely rare. One possible reason is that in socially monogamous animals, mate choice can be severely constrained, increasing the risk of inbreeding or pairing with an incompatible or low-quality partner. To escape these constraints, individuals might engage in extra-pair copulations. Alternatively, inbreeding can be avoided by dispersal. However, little is known about the interactions between mating system, mate choice, and dispersal in pair-living mammals. Here we genotyped 41 wild individuals from 14 groups of coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus) in Peruvian Amazon using 18 microsatellite loci. Parentage analyses of 18 young revealed no cases of extra-pair paternity, indicating that the study population is mostly genetically monogamous. We did not find evidence for relatedness- or heterozygosity-based mate choice. Despite the lack of evidence for active inbreeding avoidance via mate choice, mating partners were on average not related. We further found that dispersal was not sex-biased, with both sexes dispersing opportunistically over varying distances. Our findings suggest that even opportunistic dispersal, as long as it is not constrained, can generate sufficient genetic diversity to prevent inbreeding. This, in turn, can render active inbreeding avoidance via mate choice and extra-pair copulations less necessary, helping to maintain genetic monogamy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Home ranges, mtDNA haplotypes, and parentage for sampled individuals within study groups. Circles and squares with continuous outline represent adult females and males, respectively; smaller circles and squares with dotted outline represent female and male offspring, respectively. The colors of circles and squares represent different mtDNA haplotypes. Home ranges of study groups were estimated using the 95% fixed kernel density method with ArcGIS Desktop 10.6 (ESRI; https://desktop.arcgis.com) (see more details in “Methods”). The home range of Group 14 is depicted as dotted ellipse because we did not have enough GPS data to reliably estimate its home range. The home range of Group 11 is depicted as dotted line because this newly established territory was most likely not permanent and bound to shift later (see Supplementary Materials for details of the dispersal event and Methods for more details on the habitat). The map was created in ArcGIS Desktop 10.6 and modified with Inkscape 1.0.1 (https://inkscape.org/).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Home ranges, relatedness, and mtDNA haplotypes of adult females (circles) and males (squares) sampled in this study. Home ranges of study groups were estimated using the 95% fixed kernel density method with ArcGIS Desktop 10.6 (ESRI; https://desktop.arcgis.com) (see more details in “Methods”). Relatedness between pair mates (Wang’s relatedness coefficient r) is specified for each sampled pair next to the group number. Solid lines connect individuals with Wang’s r > 0.487 (mean r for simulated parent–offspring dyads), dashed lines connect individuals with Wang’s r > 0.247 (mean r for simulated half-offspring dyads), individuals with lower r are not connected. The map was created in ArcGIS Desktop 10.6 (ESRI; https://desktop.arcgis.com) and modified with Inkscape 1.0.1 (https://inkscape.org/).
Figure 3
Figure 3
A median joining network of all mtDNA haplotypes found in our study groups, constructed in PopART. The number of hatch marks indicates the number of mutations. Black nodes indicate inferred median vectors. The colors representing mtDNA haplotypes match those used in Fig. 1, 2.

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