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Lighter than two bars of chocolate, but a scientific heavy weight: the genome of the Tarsier provides insight into the evolutionary history of man. An international team of researchers in the laboratories of Dr. Wesley Warren at the McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington, USA, and Dr. Jürgen Schmitz at the Institute for Experimental Pathology of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster, Germany have now published their most recent scientific findings in the journal "Nature Communications".
A German–American research team just deciphered the genetic code of the Philippine Tarsier. When full grown, this primate is only as big as a human fist, weighs about as much as one and half chocolate bars, and genetically speaking, is astonishingly similar to human. An international team of researchers in the laboratories of Dr. Wesley Warren at the McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington, USA, and Dr. Jürgen Schmitz at the Institute for Experimental Pathology of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster, Germany have now published their most recent scientific findings in the journal "Nature Communications".
The curious jumping and singing Southeast Asian tarsiers are highly endangered due to destruction of their habitat. Frequently they are taken as pets, but they cannot withstand being touched, need continuous supplies of fresh insects as food, and in captivity often end in self-inflicted death. The fun with this involuntarily pet is obviously one-sided and means a short and tortuous end for the animal.
Tarsiers, like us humans and all other monkeys, belong to the group of “dry-nosed” primates, but possess several special features – for example, their special foot bones (tarsus), from which their scientific name is derived. Thanks to highly modified neck vertebrae, they can turn their heads around 180 degrees to both sides, and, similar to whales, use ultrasonic communication to prevent being heard by predators and to track prey. Moreover, among all mammals, they have the largest eyes relative to their physical size – each eye is bigger than their brain!
Traditionally, tarsiers were grouped taxonomically along with the lemurs (Strepsirrhini) to the Prosimians or "wet-nosed" primates as opposed to the Simians, a group of higher primates that we belong to. Despite their many similarities to the remaining Prosimians, however, there is now clear-cut evidence that they are much closer to Simians than we previously thought. But it is their various similarities to both groups that makes their genomes so interesting to scientists. “By analyzing their genetic codes, we can learn much about our own evolution.” Explained Dr. Jürgen Schmitz. –“we are especially interested in their so-called jumping genes, pieces of DNA that copy themselves and insert into new places in the genome. As in humans, these genes make up about half of the Tarsier genome. Jumping genes help us to understand how species diverged taxonomically from one another. The tarsier genome is a modern archive of evolutionary changes that led to humans and an evolutionary link between Prosimians and Simians“.
The research team of Jürgen Schmitz, together with a group at the German Primate Center in Göttingen, Germany and another at the University of California at Santa Cruz, have recently discovered new types of jumping genes in tarsiers and described new mechanisms by which they distribute themselves. Moreover, they discovered that the complete genetic material of mitochondria – special cellular organelles that are the power stations of cells and have their own genomes – was copied and inserted into the nuclear DNA of tarsiers. Such a complete insertion has never been observed in mammals before.
The newly sequenced genome of the tarsiers, when compared to those of other primates, enabled the scientists to reconstruct the waves of activities of these jumping genes. The comparisons show that millions of such elements lost their activities in the lineage leading to higher primates, possibly due to a strong reduction in the predominant population some 50 million years ago.
In addition to these new findings, Wes Warren and his group of co-workers also identified many genes that evolved specifically in tarsiers, including genes for their unique optical system adapted to night vision and the incredible springing ability of these tiny jungle inhabitants. The new sequence of tarsier genes now provides the possibility to trace the complete molecular evolution of genes from the first branch of the tree of primates to our own existence.
Original publication:
Schmitz, J. et al. Genome sequence of the basal haplorrhine primate Tarsius syrichta reveals unusual insertions. Nat. Commun. 7, 12997
doi: 10.1038/ncomms12997 (2016)
Contact:
Dr. Thomas Bauer
Department of press and public relations of the Medical Faculty of Münster University
phone: +49 251 83-58937
mobile: +49 171 4948979
E-Mail: thbauer@uni-muenster.de
A Philippine Tarsier
Foto: David Haring/Duke Lemur Center
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The "Tarsier Team" of Münster University. Left: Dr. Jürgen Schmitz; right: Prof. Jürgen Brosius
Foto: Liliya Doronina
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A Philippine Tarsier
Foto: David Haring/Duke Lemur Center
None
The "Tarsier Team" of Münster University. Left: Dr. Jürgen Schmitz; right: Prof. Jürgen Brosius
Foto: Liliya Doronina
None
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