Primate

About: Primate is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1250 publications have been published within this topic receiving 67388 citations. The topic is also known as: the primate order & primates.

Epitope expression on primate lymphocyte surface antigens

Abstract: The cross-reactivity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 28 nonhuman primates was investigated with ten kinds of Leu series of monoclonal antibodies specific to human T-, natural killer/killer-, and B-cells. The chimpanzees possessed all ten epitopes examined but the orangutan lacked Leu4 and Leu7 epitopes and the gibbons lacked Leu4, Leu7, and Leu12 epitopes. In addition to the above epitopes, the Old World monkeys lacked Leu1 and Leu10 epitopes. The Leu3a/Leu2a cell ratios varied from 0 to 1.56 among the 12 macaque species and this enabled classification of these species into three groups. In the New World monkeys, Leu2a epitope was absent, whereas Leu11a epitope was detected in several species and Leu3a epitope was found only in the owl monkeys. The prosimians expressed only HLA-DR epitope.

Genetic Evidence for the Coexistence of Pheromone Perception and Full Trichromatic Vision in Howler Monkeys

Abstract: Vertebrate pheromones are water-soluble chemicals perceived mainly by the vomeronasal organ (VNO) for intraspecific communications. Humans, apes, and Old World (OW) monkeys lack functional genes responsible for the pheromone signal transduction and are generally insensitive to vomeronasal pheromones. It has been hypothesized that the evolutionary deterioration of pheromone sensitivity occurred because pheromone communication became redundant after the emergence of full trichromatic color vision via the duplication of the X-chromosome-linked red/green opsin gene in the common ancestor of hominoids and OW monkeys. Interestingly, full trichromacy also evolved in the New World (NW) howler monkeys via an independent duplication of the same gene. Here we sequenced from three species of howler monkeys an essential component of the VNO pheromone transduction pathway, the gene encoding the ion channel TRP2. In contrast to those of hominoids and OW monkeys, the howler TRP2 sequences have none of the characteristics of pseudogenes. This and other observations indicate that howler monkeys have maintained both their systems of pheromone communication and full trichromatic vision, suggesting that the presence of full trichromacy alone does not lead to the loss of pheromone communication. We suggest that the ecological differences between OW and NW primates, particularly in habitat selection, may have also affected the evolution of pheromone perception.

Sociability and Social Organization in Monkeys and Apes

Abstract: Publisher Summary The origins of primate sociability and the sources of order in the societies of monkeys and apes are highly complex. The living primates have evolved as gregarious animals and much of their behavior is specifically adapted to life in groups. This chapter discusses the general considerations of primate sociability and social organization, sources of primate sociability, and relevance to human social behavior. Many factors can be discerned, which might contribute to the gregariousness, such as affinity of the infant for the mother that persists into early adolescence and probably beyond. Other sources of sociability, such as social play, grooming, and sexual behavior become manifested during the later periods of the development. The social organization appears to be more rigid in the terrestrial baboons and macaques than among the primates favoring an arboreal habitat. The communication is intimately involved in the coordination and control of activities within organized groups, and there is a discrepancy observed between the intellectual achievement as revealed by laboratory investigation and the apparent requirements of the natural environment. The living primates approximate a linear evolutionary sequence, raising the possibility that comparative study of the living primates can contribute to an understanding of the evolutionary trends that culminated in man.