Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Genomics

Rhesus macaque joins the club

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 8, pages 410–411 (2007)Cite this article

Whole-genome shotgun assembly was used to generate 2.87 Gb of the macaque genome, at ∼5.2-fold coverage. On average, it is 93.54% identical to the human sequence at the nucleotide level, and contains at least ∼20,000 loci.

Humans and chimpanzees are thought to have diverged ∼6 million years (Myr) ago, whereas macaques and humans diverged ∼25 Myr ago. The availability of the three genome sequences and the different times at which they diverged together provide an opportunity for detecting lineage-specific changes. Structurally, the genome, which is organized into 20 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes, is similar to that of the human. Closer analysis of submicroscopic rearrangements (10 kb to 4 Mb) revealed that, of >1,000 rearrangement-induced breakpoints, 820 occurred between the macaque and the human–chimpanzee most recent common ancestor.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Rhesus macaque Genome Sequencing and Analysis Consortium. Evolutionary and biomedical insights from the Rhesus macaque genome. Science 316, 222–234 (2007)

FURTHER READING

  1. Harris, R. A. et al. Human-specific changes of genome structure detected by genomic triangulation. Science 316, 235–237 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Han, K., Kinkel, M. K., Xing, J. & Wang, H. et al. Mobile DNA in Old World monkeys: a glimpse through the Rhesus macaque genome. Science 316, 238–240 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hernandez, R. D. et al. Demographic histories and patterns of linkage disequilibrium in Chinese and Indian Macaques. Science 316, 240–243 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Venture, M. & Antonacci, F. et al. Evolutionary formation of new cetromeres in Macaque. Science 316, 243–246 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Bailey, J. A. & Eichler, E. E. Primate segmental duplications: crucibles of evolution, diversity and disease. Nature Rev. Genet. 7, 552–564 (2006)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Magdalena Skipper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Skipper, M. Rhesus macaque joins the club. Nat Rev Genet 8, 410–411 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2121

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2121

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing