Summary
The genetic distances among primate lineages estimated from orthologous noncoding nucleotide sequences of β-type globin loci and their flanking and intergenic DNA agree closely with the distances (delta T50H values) estimated by cross hybridization of total genomic single-copy DNAs. These DNA distances and the maximum parsimony tree constructed for the nucleotide sequence orthologues depict a branching pattern of primate lineages that is essentially congruent with the picture from phylogenetic analyses of morphological characters. The molecular evidence, however, resolves ambiguities in the morphological picture and provides an objective view of the cladistic position of humans among the primates. The molecular data group humans with chimpanzees in subtribe Hominina, with gorillas in tribe Hominini, orangutans in subfamily Homininae, gibbons in family Hominidae, Old World monkeys in infraorder Catarrhini, New World monkeys in semisuborder Anthropoidea, tarsiers in suborder Haplorhini, and strepsirhines (lemuriforms and lorisiforms) in order Primates. A seeming incongruency between organismal and molecular levels of evolution, namely that morphological evolution appears to have speeded up in higher primates, especially in the lineage to humans, while molecular evolution has slowed down, may have the trivial explanation that relatively small genetic changes may sometimes result in marked phenotypic changes.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Aiello LC (1986) The relationships of the Tarsiiformes: a review of the case for the Haplorhini. In: Wood B, Martin L, Andrews P (eds) Major topics in primate and human evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 47–65
Bonner TI, Heinemann R, Todaro GJ (1980) Evolution of DNA sequence has been retarded in Malagasy lemurs. Nature 286: 420–423
Caccone A, Powell JR (1989) DNA divergence among hominoids. Evolution 43:925–942
Darwin C (1859) The origin of species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life. Doubleday, Garden City. Reprinted edition
Fitch DHA, Mainone C, Slightom JL, Goodman M (1988) The spider monkey ψη-globin gene and surrounding sequences: recent or ancient insertion of lines and sines? Genomics 3: 237–255
Fitch DHA, Mainone C, Goodman M, Slightom JL (1989) Molecular history of gene conversions in the primate fetal γ-globin genes: nucleotide sequences from the common gibbon,Hylobates lar. J Biol Chem (in press)
Fitch WM, Margoliash E (1967) Construction of phylogenetic trees. Science 155:279–284
Fleagle JG (1988) Primate adaptation and evolution. Academic Press, San Diego
Goodman M (1962) Immunochemistry of the primates and primate evolution. Ann NY Acad Sci 102:219–234
Goodman M (1963) Man's place in the phylogeny of the primates as reflected in serum proteins. In: Washburn SL (ed) Classification and human evolution. Aldine, Chicago, pp 204–234
Goodman M, Koop BF, Czelusniak J, Fitch DHA, Tagle DA, Slightom JL (1989) Molecular phylogeny of the family of apes and humans. Genome 31:316–335
Holmquist R, Miyamoto MM, Goodman M (1988) Analysis of higher-primate phylogeny from transversion differences in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA by Lake's methods of evolutionary parsimony and operator metrics. Mol Biol Evol 5: 217–236
Jukes TH, Cantor CR (1969) Evolution of protein molecules. In: Munro HN (ed) Mammalian protein metabolism. Academic Press, New York, pp 21–123
Koop BF, Goodman M, Xu P, Chan K, Slightom JL (1986) Primate η-globin DNA sequences and man's place among the great apes. Nature 319:234–238
Koop BF, Tagle DA, Goodman M, Slightom JL (1989) A molecular view of primate phylogeny and important systematic and evolutionary questions. Mol Biol Evol 6:580–612
Maeda N, Wu C-I, Bliska J, Reneke J (1988) Molecular evolution of intergenic DNA in higher primates: pattern of DNA changes, molecular clock, and evolution of repetitive sequences. Mol Biol Evol 5:1–20
Margot JB, Demero GW, Hardison RC (1989) Complete nucleotide sequence of the rabbit β-like globin gene cluster. J Mol Biol 205:15–40
Miyamoto MM, Slightom JL, Goodman M (1987) Phylogenetic relations of humans and African apes from DNA sequence in the ψη-globin region. Science 238:369–373
Miyamoto MM, Koop BF, Slightom JL, Goodman M, Tennant MR (1988) Molecular systematics of higher primates: genealogical relations and classification. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:7627–7631
Saitou N, Nei M (1987) The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol 4:406–425
Sarich VM, Schmid CW, Marks J (1989) DNA hybridization as a guide to phylogenies: a critical analysis. Cladistics 5:3–32
Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE (1984) The phylogeny of hominoid primates, as indicated by DNA-DNA hybridization. J Mol Evol 20:2–15
Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE (1987) DNA hybridization evidence of hominoid phylogeny: results from an expanded data set. J Mol Evol 26:99–121
Simons EL, Rasmussen DT (1989) Cranial morphology ofAegyptopithecus andTarsius and the question of the tarsier-anthropoidean clade. Am J Phys Anthropol 79:1–23
Simpson GG (1945) The principles of classification and a classification of mammals. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 85:1–350
Simpson GG (1961) Principles of animal taxonomy. Columbia University Press, New York
Simpson GG (1963) The meaning of taxonomic statements. In: Washburn SL (ed) Classification and human evolution. Aldine, Chicago, pp 1–31
Slightom JL, Koop BF, Xu P, Goodman M (1988) Rhesus fetal globin genes: concerted gene evolution in the descent of higher primates. J Biol Chem 263:12427–12438
Tagle DA, Koop BF, Goodman M, Slightom JL, Hess DL, Jones RJ (1988) Embryonic ∈ and γ globin genes of a prosimian primate (Galago crassicaudatus): nucleotide and amino acid sequences, developmental regulation, and phylogenetic footprints. J Mol Biol 203:439–455
Ueda S, Watanabe Y, Saitou N, Omoto K, Hayashida H, Miyata T, Hisajima H, Honjo T (1989) Nucleotide sequences of immunoglobulin-epsilon pseudogenes in man and apes and their phylogenetic relationships. J Mol Biol 205:85–90
Williams SA, Goodman M (1989) A statistical test that supports a human/chimpanzee clade based on non-coding DNA sequence data. Mol Biol Evol 6:325–330
Zuckerkandl E (1963) Perspectives in molecular anthropology. In: Washburn SL (ed) Classification and human evolution. Aldine, Chicago, pp 243–272
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goodman, M., Tagle, D.A., Fitch, D.H.A. et al. Primate evolution at the DNA level and a classification of hominoids. J Mol Evol 30, 260–266 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02099995
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02099995