Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 7, 220-227, Copyright © 1990 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
P Djian and H Green
The evolution of the anthropoid involucrin gene has resulted largely from a
process of vectorial addition of short tandem repeats. The coding region of
the involucrin gene of the gibbon (Hylobates lar), including the segment of
repeats, has been cloned and sequenced, and its repeat structure can now be
compared with that of the other hominoids. In the gibbon, as in the others,
repeat additions in the past can be assigned to early, middle, and late
regions of the present- day segment of repeats. All 10 repeats of the
gibbon early region were completed in a common anthropoid ancestor. All 17
repeats of the gibbon middle region were completed in a common hominoid
ancestor. After divergence of the gibbon lineage, eight repeats were added
to the middle region of the great ape-human lineages. Seven of these are
shared by two to four species, according to the order of their divergences
from each other. After its divergence, the gibbon lineage added a short
species-specific late region. The gibbon also possesses an incomplete
repeat just 3' of the early region, the only addition in this region in any
hominoid. Comparison of the number of repeats added with the number of
nucleotides substituted shows an inconstant relation between the two.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The involucrin gene of the gibbon: the middle region shared by the hominoids
Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
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