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Alzheimer’s disease related genes during primate evolution

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Abstract

During primate evolution, the neuronal and cognition-related genes have evolved rapidly. These genes seem to induce neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this study, we analyzed genes APOE, TOMM40, and PICALM known as the risk factors of AD. We performed bioinformatics analyses in relation to evolution, phylogeny, and protein structure for those genes in humans, Neanderthals, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, crab-eating monkeys, and rhesus monkeys. Cholesterol-related genes showed relatively rapid evolution toward a lower risk of AD. Neanderthals showed relatively higher polymorphism in genes APOE, TOMM40, and PICALM than humans did. Phylogeny indicated different topologies in the trichotomy of humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas in terms of genes APOE, TOMM40, and PICALM. These results provide to hominin-specific patterns in three genes, and give clues to the modern human-specific traits of AD and shed light on further functional research helping to understand AD.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a 2-Year Research Grant from Pusan National University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, 46241, South Korea

    Dong Hee Kim, Jeong-An Gim & Heui-Soo Kim

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Hyungju Hospital, Yangsan, 50509, South Korea

    Dong Hee Kim

  3. Genetic Engineering Institute, Pusan National University, Busan, 46241, South Korea

    Jeong-An Gim & Heui-Soo Kim

  4. Life Sciences Department, The Genomics Institute, UNIST, Ulsan, 44919, South Korea

    Jeong-An Gim

  5. Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Inje University, Busan, 47392, South Korea

    Kwang Hee Kim

  6. Department of Molecular Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, 46241, South Korea

    Chang Woo Han & Se Bok Jang

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  1. Dong Hee Kim
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Correspondence to Heui-Soo Kim.

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DHK declares that he has no conflicts of interest. J-AG declares that he has no conflicts of interest. AM declares that he has no conflicts of interest. KHK declares that he has no conflicts of interest. CWH declares that he has no conflicts of interest. SBJ declares that he has no conflicts of interest. H-SK declares that he has no conflicts of interest.

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This study was conducted in accordance with South Korea laws and the guidelines of the Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute.

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Dong Hee Kim and Jeong-An Gim contributed equally to this work.

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Kim, D.H., Gim, JA., Kim, K.H. et al. Alzheimer’s disease related genes during primate evolution. Genes Genom 39, 1183–1192 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-017-0584-x

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