Product Description
by Antoine Blancher (Editor), Jan Klein (Editor), Wladyslaw W. Socha (Editor)
Zoologists have categorized primates into a single order, and no one doubts today that they share a common ancestry. Humans and Old and New World non- human primate species, from the lemurs of Madagascar to the African anthro- poid apes, represent diverging branches of an evolutionary common trunk. Along with species-specific characters, all primates have retained a number of ancestral traits, relics of their common origin. The comparative study of these species-specific and ancestral traits makes it possible to reconstruct the evolu- tionary pathways of humans and nonhuman primates. The discovery of the human blood groups and, later, of the Major Histocom- patibility Complex (MHC) had a seminal effect on the field of human genetics, providing the first sound examples of mendel ian polymorphisms. The use of blood group and MHC alleles as genetic markers in biological anthropology gen- erated a conceptual revolution and persuaded researchers to begin to think in terms of populations and not only intems of typology. The counterparts of these human red and white cell antigens were found and studied in nunhuman primates, and progress in this field is summarized in this book.
Back Jacket
The book provides up-to-date summaries on the main systems of blood group antigens and MHC molecules in nonhuman primates. For each system, the human antigens are described and used as a reference for comparison with their counterparts in apes and monkeys. The emphasis is on the molecular structure of the gene products, the evolutionary pathways and presumed mechanisms by which the systems have evolved. All articles are written in such a way that they can serve as an introduction to the field for nonexperts and, at the same time, as a handbook for experts. Numerous tables, diagrams, and figures provide overviews of antigen structures and their distribution in different species and evolutionary relationships. Extensive reference lists guide the reader through the literature on each topic.
