(Below N is a link to NCBI taxonomic web page and E link to ESTHER at designed phylum.) > cellular organisms: NE > Eukaryota: NE > Opisthokonta: NE > Metazoa: NE > Eumetazoa: NE > Bilateria: NE > Deuterostomia: NE > Chordata: NE > Craniata: NE > Vertebrata: NE > Gnathostomata: NE > Teleostomi: NE > Euteleostomi: NE > Sarcopterygii: NE > Dipnotetrapodomorpha: NE > Tetrapoda: NE > Amniota: NE > Mammalia: NE > Theria: NE > Eutheria: NE > Boreoeutheria: NE > Euarchontoglires: NE > Primates: NE > Haplorrhini: NE > Simiiformes: NE > Catarrhini: NE > Cercopithecoidea: NE > Cercopithecidae: NE > Cercopithecinae: NE > Macaca: NE > Macaca fascicularis: NE
LegendThis sequence has been compared to family alignement (MSA) red => minority aminoacid blue => majority aminoacid color intensity => conservation rate title => sequence position(MSA position)aminoacid rate Catalytic site Catalytic site in the MSA MDVDVVNMFVIAGGTLAIPILAFVASFLLWPSALIRIYYWYWRRTLGMQV RYVHHEDYQFCYSFRGRPGHKPSILMLHGFSAHKDMWLSVVKFLPKNLHL VCVDMPGHEGTTRSSLDDLSIDGQVKRIHQFVECLKLNKKPFHLVGTSMG GQVAGVYAAYYPSDVSSLCLVCPAGLQYSTDNQFVQRLKELQDSAAVEKI PLIPSTPEEMSEMLQLCSYVRFKVPQQILQGLVDVRIPHNNFYRKLFLEI VSEKSRYSLHQNMDKIKVPTQIIWGKQDQVLDVSGADMLAKSIANCQVEL LENCGHSVVMERPRKTAKLIIDFLASVHNTDNKKLD
The nonhuman primates most commonly used in medical research are from the genus Macaca. To better understand the genetic differences between these animal models, we present high-quality draft genome sequences from two macaque species, the cynomolgus/crab-eating macaque and the Chinese rhesus macaque. Comparison with the previously sequenced Indian rhesus macaque reveals that all three macaques maintain abundant genetic heterogeneity, including millions of single-nucleotide substitutions and many insertions, deletions and gross chromosomal rearrangements. By assessing genetic regions with reduced variability, we identify genes in each macaque species that may have experienced positive selection. Genetic divergence patterns suggest that the cynomolgus macaque genome has been shaped by introgression after hybridization with the Chinese rhesus macaque. Macaque genes display a high degree of sequence similarity with human disease gene orthologs and drug targets. However, we identify several putatively dysfunctional genetic differences between the three macaque species, which may explain functional differences between them previously observed in clinical studies.
Brain-expressed genes are known to evolve slowly in mammals. Nevertheless, since brains of higher primates have evolved rapidly, one might expect acceleration in DNA sequence evolution in their brain-expressed genes. In this study, we carried out full-length cDNA sequencing on the brain transcriptome of an Old World monkey (OWM) and then conducted three-way comparisons among (i) mouse, OWM, and human, and (ii) OWM, chimpanzee, and human. Although brain-expressed genes indeed appear to evolve more rapidly in species with more advanced brains (apes > OWM > mouse), a similar lineage effect is observable for most other genes. The broad inclusion of genes in the reference set to represent the genomic average is therefore critical to this type of analysis. Calibrated against the genomic average, the rate of evolution among brain-expressed genes is probably lower (or at most equal) in humans than in chimpanzee and OWM. Interestingly, the trend of slow evolution in coding sequence is no less pronounced among brain-specific genes, vis-a-vis brain-expressed genes in general. The human brain may thus differ from those of our close relatives in two opposite directions: (i) faster evolution in gene expression, and (ii) a likely slowdown in the evolution of protein sequences. Possible explanations and hypotheses are discussed.
