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Phylogenomics

Ancestral primate viewed

Nature volume 402, pages 365–366 (1999)Cite this article

How did the genomes of modern mammals come to be organized the way they are? Improvements in genome sequencing, gene mapping and chromosome recognition mean that, by comparing the order and sequence of genes in different genomes, we may be able to trace the evolutionary pathways that our ancestors took. The potential of such an approach is illustrated by three new studies1,2,3, which compare the genome maps and chromosomes of 15 species of primate, using four non-primate orders — carnivores, rodents, artiodactyls (hoofed mammals) and tree shrews — as a reference standard for the organization of ancestral mammalian genomes. Although the approach itself is not new, the chance to explore entire vertebrate genomes with such a high level of precision is.

Comparative cytogenetics (the study of differences in chromosome structure and appearance) dates back three decades. Then, factors such as the position of the centromere, a chromosomal structure involved in nuclear division, alerted researchers to differences between distantly related species4. Later, specific banding patterns (obtained by staining chromosomes) were used to infer sub-chromosomal homologies, and many of these have turned out to be correct5. Today, comparative gene maps have been started for over 40 mammalian species6. Chromosome painting (where flow-sorted individual chromosomes of one species are labelled with fluorescent dyes and hybridized in situ to chromosomes of another species) has allowed long stretches of conserved gene segments to be identified among very distantly related species.

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Figure 1: Reconstruction of the ancestral genome of living primates, depicted as conserved and rearranged human chromosomes1,2,3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, 21702-1201, Maryland, USA

    Stephen J. O'Brien & Roscoe Stanyon

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  1. Stephen J. O'Brien
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  2. Roscoe Stanyon
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Correspondence to Stephen J. O'Brien.

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O'Brien, S., Stanyon, R. Ancestral primate viewed. Nature 402, 365–366 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/46450

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