Chapter category: Viruses
A Brief Introduction to Primate Evolution
Retroviruses and Primate Genome Evolution
Edited by: Eugene SverdlovISBN: 1-58706-213-5
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «
Chapter authors:
Hans Zischler, Christian Roos and Gerhard Hunsmann
Functional aspects of genetic information as well as the diversity of different genomes will be major biomedical issues in postgenomic research. Genomic information from numerous organisms is closing in at an ever-increasing rate. Complete genomes are available from different pro- and eukaryotic taxa including that of the mouse—the most prominent eutherian model organism—and humans. Meaningful comparative analyses in character evolution, irrespective on which level this is carried out require an undisputed phylogenetic framework to ultimatively decide between homology and analogy. Though of outmost importance for evolutionary research in humans, an undisputed phylogenetic framework linking the mouse with primate-related eutherians, nonhuman primates and humans is still missing and research results on this issue are often controversially discussed. We herein review the actual status of the investigations on primate phylogeny. An emphasis is given to the divergence of nonhuman primates, relevant interpretations of the fossil record and molecular, including retropositional evidence. Whereas a congruent view is coming up concerning the phylogenetic relationships among primate taxa at a higher taxonomic level, e.g., the primate infraorders, there is still considerable debate on primate origins or very recent splits in primate evolution. For the latter this is mostly due to an incomplete taxon sampling, since primate material from at least more than 200 currently recognized species that is suitable for molecular research is not easily accessible. Obtaining more clarity about primate origins is to a large degree hampered by the sparseness of the critical fossil record. In as far as both molecular and fossil evidence is available for a certain splitting, the impression is that many interpretations based on the two completely different molecular and fossil-based approaches are remarkably compatible.
Additional chapters from this book:
Evolutionary Aspects of Human Endogenous Retroviral Sequences (HERVs) and Disease
Jonas Blomberg, Dmitrijs Ushameckis and Patric Jern
Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are remnants of retroviral infections. ERVs preserve functions of exogenous retroviruses to various extents. ERVs are both parasites and symbionts. Although the most p...
Phylogeny of Human Endogenous and Exogenous Retroviruses
Aris Katzourakis and Michael Tristem
The human genome contains a number of human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) families, each resulting from a single germ-line infection. Here we combine information on all previously described HERV fami...
Genome-Wide Analysis of Human Gene Expression: Application to the Expression of Human Endogenous Retroviruses
Tatyana V. Vinogradova
This chapter reviews the state-of-the-art of the approaches to the investigation of human and other complex transcriptomes. The techniques of differential cDNA libraries screening, subtractive hybri...
Genome-Wide Search for Human Specific Retroelements
Yuri B. Lebedev
Transposable elements, primarily retroelements (REs), were permanently amplified in primate genomes during the last 65 million years suggesting their evolutionary significance. Fixed in the ancestra...
Influence of Human Endogenous Retroviruses on Cellular Gene Expression
Christine Leib-Mosch, Wolfgang Seifarth and Ulrike Schon
Endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) and retrotransposons are normal components of the human DNA. During evolution these elements have spread by retrotransposition and thus dispersed their regulatory seq...
Genomic Distributions of Human Retroelements
Dixie L. Mager, Louie N. van de Lagemaat and Patrik Medstrand
Nearly half of the human and primate genome is derived from ancient transposable elements, primarily retroelements. This surprising fact alone suggests that retroelements have played a major role in...
Retroviruses, Their Domesticated Relatives and Other Retroinvaders: Potential Genetic and Epigenetic Mediators of Phenotypic Variation
Eugene D. Sverdlov
This chapter is a very brief introduction to exogenous and endogenous retroviruses and other genomic mobile elements whose mobility is conditioned by transient passage through an RNA stage. This pas...
How Different Is the Human Genome from the Genomes of the Great Apes?
Eugene V. Nadezhdin and Eugene D. Sverdlov
During Hominoid evolution a lot of sequence and chromosomal organization differences between highly related genomes of human and the African great apes were accumulated. Some of them certainly form ...
A Brief Introduction to Primate Evolution
Hans Zischler, Christian Roos and Gerhard Hunsmann
Functional aspects of genetic information as well as the diversity of different genomes will be major biomedical issues in postgenomic research. Genomic information from numerous organisms is closin...
Complex Genome Comparisons: Problems and Approaches
Natalia E. Broude and Eugene D. Sverdlov
Fast progress in human and other genome sequencing has created a foundation for global functional analysis of complex genomes. Genome-wide interindividual, population, and interspecies comparisons o...
A Glance at Evolution through the Genomic Window
Eugene D. Sverdlov
A large number of various genomes sequenced recently for the first time make it possible to analyze evolutionary changes at a whole genome level, unlike a single gene level. Intra- and interspecies ...
Multiple Roles of Keratinocytes in Allergic Contact Dermatitis
Cristina Albanesi, Andrea Cavani, Claudia Scarponi and Giampiero Girolomoni
Cellular and molecular mechanisms underling allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) have been, and still are, under intense investigation, not only for the relevance of ACD in clinical medicine, but also ...
Genomic Distributions of Human Retroelements
Dixie L. Mager, Louie N. van de Lagemaat and Patrik Medstrand
Nearly half of the human and primate genome is derived from ancient transposable elements, primarily retroelements. This surprising fact alone suggests that retroelements have played a major role in ...
