Skip to main content
Log in

Evolution of type C viral genes: evidence for an Asian origin of man

  • Article
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

Old World monkeys and apes, including man, possess, as a normal component of their cellular DNA, gene sequences (virogenes) related to the RNA of a vims isolated from baboons. A comparison of the viral gene sequences and the other cellular sequences distinguishes those Old World monkeys and apes that have evolved in Africa from those that have evolved in Asia. Among the apes, only gorilla and chimpanzee seem by these criteria to be African, whereas gibbon, orang-utan and man are identified as Asian, leading us to conclude that most of man's evolution has occurred outside Africa.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Benveniste, R. E., and Todaro, G. J., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 71, 4513–4518 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jolly, C. J., in Old World Monkeys, Evolution, Systematics, and Behaviour (edit. by Napier, J. R., and Napier, P. H.), 139–174 (Academic, London, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Simons, E. L., in Old World Monkeys, Evolution, Systematics, and Behaviour (edit. by Napier, J. R., and Napier, P. H.), 97–138 (Academic, London, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Kohne, D. E., Q. Rev. Biophys., 3, 327–375 (1970).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kohne, D. E., Chiscon, J. A., and Hoyer, B. H., J. hum. Evol., 1, 627–644 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hoyer, B. H., van de Velde, N. W., Goodman, M., and Roberts, R. B., J. hum. Evol., 1, 645 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Britten, R. J., and Kohne, D. E., Science, 161, 529–540 (1968).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. McCarthy, B. J., and Farquhar, M. N., in Evolution of Genetic Systems (edit. by Smith, H. H.), 1–43 (Gordon and Breach, New York, 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Kohne, D. E., Chiscon, J. A., Hoyer, B. H., Yb. Carnegie Inst. Wash., 69 488 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lovejoy, C. O., Burstein, A. H., and Heiple, K. G., Science, 176, 803–805 (1972).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Simons, E. L., Primate Evolution (Macmillan, New York, 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Markarjan, D. S., Isakov, E. P., and Kondakov, G. L., J. hum. Evol., 3, 247–255 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Wilson, A. C., and Sarich, V. M., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 63, 1088 (1969).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. King, M-C., and Wilson, A. C., Science, 188, 107–116 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Sarich, V. M., in Old World Monkeys, Evolution, Systematics, and Behaviour (edit. by Napier, J. R., and Napier, P. H.), 175–226 (Academic, London, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Romero-Herrera, A. E., Lehmann, H., Joysey, K. A., and Friday, A. E., Nature 246, 389–395 (1973).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Goodman, M., and Moore, G. W., Syst. Zool., 20, 19–62 (1971).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Benveniste, R. E., et al., Nature, 248, 17–20 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Todaro, G. J., Sherr, C. J., Benveniste, R. E., Lieber, M. M., and Melnick, J. M., Cell, 2, 55–61 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Benveniste, R. E., Heinemann, R., Wilson, G. L., Callahan, R., and Todaro, G. J., J. Virol., 14, 56–67 (1974).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Benveniste, R. E., Sherr, C. J., Lieber, M. M., Callahan, R., and Todaro, G. J., in Fundamental Aspects of Neoplasia (edit. by Gottlieb, A. A., Plescia, O. J., and Bishop, D. H. L.), 29–53 (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1975).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  22. Benveniste, R. E., and Todaro, G. J., Nature, 252, 456–459 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Martin, M., and Hoyer, B. H., Biochemistry, 5, 2706–2713 (1966).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Goldberg, R. J., Scolnick, E. M., Parks, W. P., Yakovleva, L. A., and Lapin, B. A., Int. J. Cancer, 14, 722–730 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Todaro, G. J., Sherr, C. J., and Benveniste, R. E., Virology (in the press).

  26. Henderson, I. C., Lieber, M. M., and Todaro, G. J., Virology, 60, 282–287 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Schidlovsky, G. and Ahmed, M., J. natn. Cancer Inst., 51, 225–233 (1973).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Sherr, C. J., Benveniste, R. E., and Todaro, G. J., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 71, 3721–3725 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Mayer, R. J., Smith, R. G., and Gallo, R. C., Science, 185, 864–867 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Andrews, P. Nature, 231, 192 (1971).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Bishop, W. W., Miller, J. A., and Fitch, F. J., Am. J. Sci., 264, 669 (1969).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Leakey, L. S. B. Proc. natn. Sci. Acad. U.S.A., 67, 746–748 (1970).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Oxnard, C. E., Nature, 258, 389–395 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Nei, M., and Roychoudhury, A. K., Science, 117, 434 (1972).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Nei, M., and Roychoudhury, A. K., Am. J. hum. Genet., 26, 431 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  36. Ando, T., Biochim. biophys. Acta, 114, 158–168 (1966).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Benveniste, R. E., and Scolnick, E. M., Virology, 51, 370–382 (1973).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Britten, R. J., and Smith, J., Yb. Carnegie Inst. Wash, 68, 378–386 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Napier, J. R., and Napier, P. H., A Handbook of Living Primates (Academic, London, 1967).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  40. Cutler, R. G., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 72, 4664–4668 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Collett, M. S., and Faras, A. J., J. Virol., 16, 1220–1228 (1975).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Rothenberg, E., and Baltimore, D., J. Virol., 17, 168–174 (1976).

    CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Junghans, R. P., Duesberg, P. H., and Knight, C. A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 72, 4895–4899 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Benveniste, R. E., and Todaro, G. J., Nature, 252, 170–173 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Benveniste, R., Todaro, G. Evolution of type C viral genes: evidence for an Asian origin of man. Nature 261, 101–108 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261101a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/261101a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Navigation