Nucleotide Sequence, Evolution, and Expression of the Fetal Globin Gene of the Spider Monkey Ateles geoffroyi

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1985-10, Vol.82 (20), p.6985-6989
• Main Authors: Giebel, Lutz B., Van Santen, Vicky L., Slightom, Jerry L., Spritz, Richard A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Cebidae - genetics; Cell Line; Cloning, Molecular; Divergent evolution; DNA Restriction Enzymes; Evolution; Fetal Hemoglobin - genetics; Fibroblasts - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genes. Genome; Globins - genetics; Humans; Male; Messenger RNA; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Weight; Monkeys; Nucleotide sequences; Nucleotides; Primates; RNA, Messenger - genetics; Skin - metabolism; Untranslated regions
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.82.20.6985

The single γ -globin gene of the New World spider monkey Ateles geoffroyi is similar to other primate genes of the β -globin gene cluster (``β -like'' globin genes). The number of nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions between the coding regions of Ateles and other primate γ -globin genes suggests that the Platyrrhine and Catarrhine evolutionary lines diverged ≈ 40 million years ago, an estimate reasonably consistent with the fossil record. However, the number of synonymous coding region and noncoding base differences is much smaller than predicted by various molecular ``clocks.'' This suggests that the rate of synonymous coding and noncoding base substitution has not been constant per absolute time in primate lineages. Expression of the cloned Ateles γ -globin gene in cultured monkey cells showed that the sequence AAUAAA near the mRNA 3′terminus is not sufficient to define the site of transcript polyadenylylation.