Discovery of Lanama Virus, a Distinct Member of Species Kunsagivirus C (Picornavirales: Picornaviridae), in Wild Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kuhn JH
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7764893 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:This study seeks to understand how humans impact the dietary patterns of eight free-ranging vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) groups in South Africa using stable isotope analysis. Vervets are omnivores that exploit a wide range of habitats including those that have been anthropogenically-disturbed. As humans encroach upon nonhuman primate landscapes, human-nonhuman primate interconnections become increasingly common, which has led to the rise of the field of ethnoprimatology. To date, many ethnoprimatological studies have examined human-nonhuman primate associations largely in qualitative terms. By using stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope analysis, we use quantitative data to understand the degree to which humans impact vervet monkey dietary patterns. Based on initial behavioral observations we placed the eight groups into three categories of anthropogenic disturbance (low, mid, and high). Using δ13C and δ15N values we estimated the degree to which each group and each anthropogenically-disturbed category was consuming C4 plants (primarily sugar cane, corn, or processed foods incorporating these crops). δ13C values were significantly different between groups and categories of anthropogenic-disturbance. δ15N values were significantly different at the group level. The two vervet groups with the highest consumption of C4 plants inhabited small nature reserves, appeared to interact with humans only sporadically, and were initially placed in the mid level of anthropogenic-disturbance. However, further behavioral observations revealed that the high δ13C values exhibited by these groups were linked to previously unseen raiding of C4 crops. By revealing these cryptic feeding patterns, this study illustrates the utility of stable isotopes analysis for some ethnoprimatological questions.
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Project description:Observations of dead infant carrying have been reported for many primate species, and researchers have proposed several hypotheses to explain this behaviour. However, despite being a relatively well-studied species, reports of dead infant carrying in wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) remain scarce. Here we report 14 observations of dead infant carrying by female vervet monkeys in a population at Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Most of the females carried the dead infant for a day or less, but one female carried her infant for at least 14 days. In one case the maternal sister of a dead infant carried it after the death of their mother. We also report a case of mother-infant cannibalism: a female consumed part of her deceased infant's tail. Other post-mortem care-taking behaviours such as grooming, smelling and licking were also recorded. Of 97 recorded infant deaths in this study population since 2010, 14.4% are known to have elicited dead infant carrying, a proportion similar to that reported for other monkey species. We discuss our observations in relation to various hypotheses about this behaviour, including the post-parturition hormones hypothesis, learning to mother hypothesis, and unawareness of death hypothesis.
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Project description:Vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) are one of the most widely distributed non-human primate species found in South Africa. They occur across all the South African provinces, inhabiting a large variety of habitats. These habitats vary sufficiently that it can be assumed that various factors such as pathogen diversity could influence populations in different ways. In turn, these factors could lead to varied levels of selection at specific fitness linked loci. The Toll-like receptor (TLR) gene family, which play an integral role in vertebrate innate immunity, is a group of fitness linked loci which has been the focus of much research. In this study, we assessed the level of genetic variation at partial sequences of two TLR loci (TLR4 and 7) and a reproductively linked gene, acrosin (ACR), across the different habitat types within the vervet monkey distribution range. Gene variation and selection estimates were also made among 11-21 primate species. Low levels of genetic variation for all three gene regions were observed within vervet monkeys, with only two polymorphic sites identified for TLR4, three sites for TLR7 and one site for ACR. TLR7 variation was positively correlated with high mean annual rainfall, which was linked to increased pathogen abundance. The observed genetic variation at TLR4 might have been influenced by numerous factors including pathogens and climatic conditions. The ACR exonic regions showed no variation in vervet monkeys, which could point to the occurrence of a selective sweep. The TLR4 and TLR7 results for the among primate analyses was mostly in line with previous studies, indicating a higher rate of evolution for TLR4. Within primates, ACR coding regions also showed signs of positive selection, which was congruent with previous reports on mammals. Important additional information to the already existing vervet monkey knowledge base was gained from this study, which can guide future research projects on this highly researched taxon as well as help conservation agencies with future management planning involving possible translocations of this species.
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Project description:Animal paths are analogous to intractable mathematical problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and the shortest path problem (SPP). Both the TSP and SPP require an individual to find the shortest path through multiple targets but the TSP demands a return to the start, while the SPP does not. Vervet monkeys are very efficient in solving TSPs but this species is a multiple central place forager that does not always return to the same sleeping site and thus theoretically should be selected to find solutions to SPPs rather than TSPs. We examined path choice by wild vervets in an SPP experimental array where the shortest paths usually differed from those consistent with common heuristic strategies, the nearest-neighbor rule (NNR-go to the closest resource that has not been visited), and the convex hull (put a mental loop around sites, adding inner targets in order of distance from the edge)-an efficient strategy for TSPs but not SPPs. In addition, humans solving SPPs use an initial segment strategy (ISS-choose the straightest path at the beginning, only turning when necessary) and we looked at vervet paths consistent with this strategy. In 615 trials by single foragers, paths usually conformed to the NNR and rarely the slightly more efficient convex hull, supporting that vervets may be selected to solve SPPs. Further, like humans solving SPPs, vervets showed a tendency to use the ISS. Paths consistent with heuristics dropped off sharply, and use of the shortest path increased, when heuristics led to longer paths showing trade-offs in efficiency versus cognitive load. Two individuals out of 17, found the shortest path most often, showing inter-individual variation in path planning. Given support for the NNR and the ISS, we propose a new rule-of-thumb termed the "region heuristic" that vervets may apply in multi-destination routes.
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Project description:ObjectiveVervet monkeys are common in most tree-rich areas of South Africa, but their absence from grassland and semi-desert areas of the country suggest potentially restricted and mosaic local population patterns that may have relevance to local phenotype patterns and selection. A portion of the mitochondrial DNA control region was sequenced to study patterns of genetic differentiation.MethodsDNA was extracted, and mitochondrial DNA sequences were obtained from 101 vervet monkeys at 15 localities, which represent both an extensive (widely across the distribution range) and intensive (more than one troop at most of the localities) sampling strategy. Analyses utilized Arlequin 3.1, MEGA 6, BEAST v1.5.2, and Network V3.6.1.ResultsThe dataset contained 26 distinct haplotypes, with six populations fixed for single haplotypes. Pairwise P-distance among population pairs showed significant differentiation among most population pairs, but with nonsignificant differences among populations within some regions. Populations were grouped into three broad clusters in a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree and a haplotype network. These clusters correspond to i) north-western, northern, and north-eastern parts of the distribution range as well as the northern coastal belt; ii) central areas of the country; and iii) southern part of the Indian Ocean coastal belt and adjacent inland areas.ConclusionsApparent patterns of genetic structure correspond to current and past distribution of suitable habitat, geographic barriers to gene flow, geographic distance, and female philopatry. However, further work on nuclear markers and other genomic data are necessary to confirm these results.
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Project description:Psychosocial stressors - life events that challenge social support and relationships - represent powerful risk factors for human disease; included amongst these events are relocation, isolation and displacement. To evaluate the impact of a controlled psychosocial stressor on physiology and underlying molecular pathways, we longitudinally studied the influence of a 28-day period of quarantine on biomarkers of immune signalling, microbial translocation, glycaemic health and blood transcriptome in the wild-born vervet monkey. This event caused a coordinated, mostly transient, reduction of circulating levels of nine immune signalling molecules. These were paralleled by a massive dysregulation of blood transcriptome, including genes implicated in chronic pathologies and immune functions. Immune and inflammatory functions were enriched among the genes downregulated in response to stress. An upregulation of genes involved in blood coagulation, platelet activation was characteristic of the rapid response to stress induction. Stress also decreased neutrophils and increased CD4?+?T cell proportions in blood. This model of psychosocial stress, characterised by an immune dysregulation at the transcriptomic, molecular and cellular levels, creates opportunities to uncover the underlying mechanisms of stress-related diseases with an immune component, including cardiovascular diseases and susceptibility to infections.
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Project description:Antimicrobial resistance has been described in all ecosystems, including wildlife. Here we investigated the presence of methicillin-resistant and susceptible staphylococci in both colony-born and wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus). Through selective isolation, PCR, MALDI-TOF, and whole-genome sequencing, methicillin-resistant and susceptible Staphylococcus spp. isolated from vervet monkeys were characterized. We obtained putatively methicillin-resistant staphylococci from 29 of the 34 nasal samples collected. Strains were identified by MALDI-TOF analysis. Staphylococcus cohnii (n = 15) was the most commonly isolated species, while nine other species were isolated one or two times. PCR analysis indicated that eight [28%] strains were mecA positive. The whole-genome sequencing [WGS] included eight methicillin-resistant strains (S. epidermidis (n = 2), S. cohnii (n = 3), S. arlettae (n = 2) and S. hominis (n = 1)), nine additional S. cohnii strains and two strains that could not be identified by MALDI-TOF, but genetically characterized as one S. cohnii and one S. warneri. Different resistance genes carried by different mobile genetic elements, mainly blaZ (n = 10) and tet(K) (n = 5) were found, while msr(A), cat, fosB, dfrG, erm(C), mph(C) and str were identified in one to three strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the S. cohnii strains based on SNPs indicated four clusters associated with colony born or wild. In addition, one singleton S. cohnii isolated did not form a separate group and clustered within other S. cohnii strains submitted to the NCBI. In this study, we demonstrated the presence of AMR and mobile genetic elements to both colony-born and wild vervet monkeys. We also identified a previously undescribed prevalence of S. cohnii in the nasal flora of these monkeys, which merits further investigation.
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Project description:Shifts in microbial diversity, composition and functionality in the gut and genital microbiome during a natural SIV infection in vervet monkeys
| PRJNA603995 | ENA
Project description:Genome sequencing of Chlorocebus aethiops pygerythrus
| PRJNA168521 | ENA