Nucleotide sequences of immunoglobulin epsilon genes of chimpanzee and orangutan: DNA molecular clock and hominoid evolution.

To determine the phylogenetic relationships among hominoids and the dates of their divergence, the complete nucleotide sequences of the constant region of the immunoglobulin epsilon-chain (C epsilon 1) genes from chimpanzee and orangutan have been determined. These sequences were compared with the human epsilon-chain constant-region sequence. A molecular clock (silent molecular clock), measured by the degree of sequence divergence at the synonymous (silent) positions of protein-encoding regions, was introduced for the present study. From the comparison of nucleotide sequences of alpha1-antitrypsin and beta- and delta-globin genes between humans and Old World monkeys, the silent molecular clock was calibrated: the mean evolutionary rate of silent substitution was determined to be 1.56 X 10(-9) substitutions per site per year. Using the silent molecular clock, the mean divergence dates of chimpanzee and orangutan from the human lineage were estimated as 6.4 +/- 2.6 million years and 17.3 +/- 4.5 million years, respectively. It was also shown that the evolutionary rate of primate genes is considerably slower than those of other mammalian genes.