Non-Invasive Genotyping of Wild Chimpanzees

Short tandem repeat (STR) length analysis is one of the most common methods used to genotype ecological samples. However, technical limitations associated with capillary electrophoresis sizing often results in ambiguous data and time-consuming analyses. High throughput STR sequencing and automated genotyping using bioinformatics has been introduced as a faster and more accurate alternative to capillary electrophoresis. We validated the genotypes produced by high throughput sequencing using fecal samples from a unique cohort of chimpanzees that have been routinely sampled and genotyped for over 15 years.