The mitochondrial ancestor of bonobos and the origin of their major haplogroups

Hiroyuki Takemoto, Yoshi Kawamoto, Shoko Higuchi, Emiko Makinose, John A Hart, Térese B Hart, Tetsuya Sakamaki, NahokoTokuyama, Gay E Reinartz, Patrick Guislain, Jef Dupain, Amy K Cobden, Mbangi N Mulavwa, Kumugo Yangozene, Serge Darroze, Céline Devos, Takeshi Furuichi.

Abstract

We report here where the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of bonobos (Pan paniscus) ranged and how they dispersed throughout their current habitat. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecular dating to analyze the time to MRCA (TMRCA) and the major mtDNA haplogroups of wild bonobos were performed using new estimations of divergence time of bonobos from other Pan species to investigate the dispersal routes of bonobos over the forest area of the Congo River's left bank. The TMRCA of bonobos was estimated to be 0.64 or 0.95 million years ago (Ma). Six major haplogroups had very old origins of 0.38 Ma or older. The reconstruction of the ancestral area revealed the mitochondrial ancestor of the bonobo populations ranged in the eastern area of the current bonobosăŕ habitat. The haplogroups may have been formed from either the riparian forests along the Congo River or the center of the southern Congo Basin. Fragmentation of the forest refugia during the cooler periods may have greatly affected the formation of the genetic structure of bonobo populations.

Bibliographic information

The mitochondrial ancestor of bonobos and the origin of their major haplogroups.
PLoS One 12(5): e0174851.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174851

2017/05/08 Primate Research Institute