Evolution of Growth Hormone in Primates: The GH Gene Clusters of the New World Monkeys Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) and White-Fronted Capuchin (Cebus albifrons)

The growth hormone (GH) gene family represents an erratic and complex evolutionary pattern, involving many evolutionary events, such as multiple gene duplications, positive selection, the birth-and-death process and gene conversions. In the present study, we cloned and sequenced GH-like genes from three species of New World monkeys (NWM). Phylogenetic analysis strongly suggest monophyly for NWM GH-like genes with respect to those of Old World monkeys (OWM) and hominoids, indicating that independent gene duplications have occurred in NWM GH-like genes. There are three main clusters of genes in putatively functional NWM GH-like genes, according to our gene tree. Comparison of the ratios of nonsynonymous and synonymous substitutions revealed that these three clusters of genes evolved under different kinds of selective pressures. Detailed analysis of the evolution of pseudogenes showed that the evolutionary pattern of this gene family in platyrrhines is in agreement with the so-called birth-and-death process.

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Dose-dependent TCDD-induced increase or decrease in T-lymphocyte subsets in the blood of New World monkeys (Callithrix jacchus)

Chemosphere ◽

10.1016/0045-6535(92)90130-j ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 25 (7-10) ◽

pp. 1201-1206 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Reinhard Neubert ◽

Georg Golor ◽

Ralf Stahlmann ◽

Hans Helge ◽

Diether Neubert

Keyword(s):

T Lymphocyte ◽

New World ◽

Lymphocyte Subsets ◽

Callithrix Jacchus ◽

New World Monkeys ◽

T Lymphocyte Subsets ◽

Dose Dependent

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Working memory of action: a comparative study of ability to selecting response based on previous action in New World monkeys (Saimiri sciureus and Callithrix jacchus)

Behavioural Processes ◽

10.1016/s0376-6357(02)00041-4 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 58 (3) ◽

pp. 149-155 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Satoshi Tsujimoto ◽

Toshiyuki Sawaguchi

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Comparative Study ◽

New World ◽

Callithrix Jacchus ◽

Saimiri Sciureus ◽

New World Monkeys

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The transport of vitamin D in the serum of primates

Biochemical Journal ◽

10.1042/bj1590463 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 159 (3) ◽

pp. 463-466 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

R Bouillon ◽

H van Baelen ◽

P de Moor

Keyword(s):

Vitamin D ◽

Electrophoretic Mobility ◽

New World ◽

Human Albumin ◽

New World Monkeys ◽

Cebus Albifrons ◽

Related Substances ◽

Cebus Monkey ◽

Γ Globulins ◽

25 Hydroxycholecalciferol

“Transcalciferin” (the serum transport protein for cholecalciferol and related substances) of two New World monkeys, Cebus apella and Cebus albifrons, was found to be immunologically identical with the transcalciferin of other monkeys and partially with that of man. In contrast with the α-globulin mobility of the transcalciferin of other primates, the transcalciferin of cebus monkey has the electrophoretic mobility of albumin. Most of the serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol was precipitable with isolated monospecific anti-(human transcalciferin) γ-globulins but not with anti-(human albumin) γ-globulins. These results indicate that the transport of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol in the cebus monkey is not due to albumin itself but to transcalciferin with the electrophoretic mobility of albumin. Similar variants of transcalciferin also exist in man.

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Molecular evolution of GH in primates: characterisation of the GH genes from slow loris and marmoset defines an episode of rapid evolutionary change

Journal of Molecular Endocrinology ◽

10.1677/jme.0.0260249 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 249-258 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

OC Wallis ◽

YP Zhang ◽

M Wallis

Keyword(s):

Molecular Evolution ◽

New World ◽

Rapid Change ◽

Upstream Region ◽

New World Monkeys ◽

Hydrophobic Core ◽

Slow Loris ◽

Gh Gene ◽

Synonymous Sites ◽

Rate Of Substitution

Pituitary growth hormone (GH), like several other protein hormones, shows an unusual episodic pattern of molecular evolution in which sustained bursts of rapid change are imposed on long periods of very slow evolution (near-stasis). A marked period of rapid change occurred in the evolution of GH in primates or a primate ancestor, and gave rise to the species specificity that is characteristic of human GH. We have defined more precisely the position of this burst by cloning and sequencing the GH genes for a prosimian, the slow loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus) and a New World monkey, marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Slow loris GH is very similar in sequence to pig GH, demonstrating that the period of rapid change occurred during primate evolution, after the separation of lines leading to prosimians and higher primates. The putative marmoset GH is similar in sequence to human GH, demonstrating that the accelerated evolution occurred before divergence of New World monkeys and Old World monkeys/apes. The burst of change was confined largely to coding sequence for mature GH, and is not marked in other components of the gene sequence including signal peptide, 5' upstream region and introns. A number of factors support the idea that this episode of rapid change was due to positive adaptive selection. Thus (1) there is no apparent loss of function of GH in man compared with non-primates, (2) after the episode of rapid change the rate of evolution fell towards the slow basal level that is seen for most mammalian GHs, (3) the accelerated rate of substitution for the exons of the GH gene significantly exceeds that for introns, and (4) the amino acids contributing to the hydrophobic core of GH are strongly conserved when higher primate and other GH sequences are compared, and for coding sequences other than that coding for hydrophobic core residues the rate of substitution for non-synonymous sites (K(A)) is significantly greater than that for synonymous sites (K(S)). In slow loris, as in most non-primate mammals, there is no evidence for duplication of the GH gene, but in marmoset, as in rhesus monkey and man, the putative GH gene is one of a cluster of closely related genes.

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Spatial and temporal frequency selectivity of neurons in the middle temporal visual area of new world monkeys (Callithrix jacchus)

European Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05453.x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 25 (6) ◽

pp. 1780-1792 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Leo L. Lui ◽

James A. Bourne ◽

Marcello G. P. Rosa

Keyword(s):

New World ◽

Temporal Frequency ◽

Callithrix Jacchus ◽

Frequency Selectivity ◽

Visual Area ◽

New World Monkeys ◽

Middle Temporal

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Characterisation of the GH gene cluster in a new-world monkey, the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

Journal of Molecular Endocrinology ◽

10.1677/jme.0.0290089 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 89-97 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

OC Wallis ◽

M Wallis

Keyword(s):

Gene Cluster ◽

New World ◽

World Monkey ◽

Single Gene ◽

Callithrix Jacchus ◽

Chromosomal Dna ◽

Reading Frame ◽

New World Monkey ◽

Gh Gene ◽

Close Relatives

In most mammals pituitary GH is encoded by a single gene with no close relatives. However, in man the GH gene has been shown to be one of a cluster of five closely related genes, four of which are expressed in the placenta. Rhesus monkey also expresses at least five closely related GH-like genes, although the genomic organisation of these has not been fully reported. Here we describe the cloning and characterisation of GH-like genes in a new-world monkey, the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). This species possesses a cluster of eight GH-like 'genes'. The gene at the 5' end of this cluster encodes pituitary GH and is similar to that encoding human GH. Five of the eight marmoset 'genes' are probably pseudogenes, since they include mutations which would prevent normal expression, including stop codons and small insertions/deletions that would change the reading frame. In one case a large part of a gene is deleted, and in another a large insertion is introduced into an exon. The remaining two marmoset genes are potentially expressible, as proteins with sequences substantially different (at 25-30% of all residues) from that of marmoset GH itself; whether and in which tissue(s) such expression actually occurs is not yet known. None of the marmoset genes is clearly equivalent to any of the human GH-like genes expressed in the placenta, and this and phylogenetic analysis suggest that the duplications that gave rise to the marmoset GH gene cluster occurred independently of those that gave rise to the corresponding cluster in man. Although it includes more 'genes', the marmoset cluster extends over a shorter region of chromosomal DNA (about 35 kb) than does the human GH gene cluster (about 50 kb).

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