Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year Filter | PMID(sorted ascending) Filter |
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| play-solicitation gestures in chimpanzees in the wild: flexible adjustment to social circumstances and individual matrices. | social play is a frequent behaviour in great apes and involves sophisticated forms of communicative exchange. while it is well established that great apes test and practise the majority of their gestural signals during play interactions, the influence of demographic factors and kin relationships between the interactants on the form and variability of gestures are relatively little understood. we thus carried out the first systematic study on the exchange of play-soliciting gestures in two chimpa ... | 2016 | 27853603 |
| reflections of the social environment in chimpanzee memory: applying rational analysis beyond humans. | in cognitive science, the rational analysis framework allows modelling of how physical and social environments impose information-processing demands onto cognitive systems. in humans, for example, past social contact among individuals predicts their future contact with linear and power functions. these features of the human environment constrain the optimal way to remember information and probably shape how memory records are retained and retrieved. we offer a primer on how biologists can apply ... | 2016 | 27853606 |
| dyadic interactions, attachment and the presence of triadic interactions in chimpanzees and humans. | from a developmental perspective, dyadic interactions with social partners and dyadic interactions with objects underpin early social cognition in humans and chimpanzees. in humans, dyadic social relationships form in the first three months of life, dyadic relations with objects form in the first 6 months of life, and triadic relations begin around 8-12 months. in chimpanzees, a similar developmental pattern is evident with dyadic social relationships forming in the first three months of life, d ... | 2017 | 27856032 |
| robust representations of individual faces in chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) but not monkeys (macaca mulatta). | being able to recognize the faces of our friends and family members no matter where we see them represents a substantial challenge for the visual system because the retinal image of a face can be degraded by both changes in the person (age, expression, pose, hairstyle, etc.) and changes in the viewing conditions (direction and degree of illumination). yet most of us are able to recognize familiar people effortlessly. a popular theory for how face recognition is achieved has argued that the brain ... | 2017 | 27864643 |
| genomics: disclose the influence of human specific genetic variation on the evolution and development of cerebral cortex. | cerebral cortex, whose complexity of structure and function has derived from human specific genetic variation, is the most advanced nerve center of human, controlling the cognitive ability which distinguishes human from any other creatures. using genomics technology, molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development and evolution have been disclosed. in this review, we summarize how genomics technologies are used in exploring the influence of human specific genetic variation on cerebral cortex ... | 2016 | 27867146 |
| chlamydia-related bacteria in free-living and captive great apes, gabon. | 2016 | 27869611 | |
| the mobility of the human face: more than just the musculature. | the human face has the greatest mobility and facial display repertoire among all primates. however, the variables that account for this are not clear. humans and other anthropoids have remarkably similar mimetic musculature. this suggests that differences among the mimetic muscles alone may not account for the increased mobility and facial display repertoire seen in humans. furthermore, anthropoids themselves outpace prosimians in these categories: humans > other anthropoids > prosimians. this s ... | 2016 | 27870342 |
| the biomechanics of zygomatic arch shape. | mammalian zygomatic arch shape is remarkably variable, ranging from nearly cylindrical to blade-like in cross section. based on geometry, the arch can be hypothesized to be a sub-structural beam whose ability to resist deformation is related to cross sectional shape. we expect zygomatic arches with different cross sectional shapes to vary in the degree to which they resist local bending and torsion due to the contraction of the masseter muscle. a stiffer arch may lead to an increase in the relat ... | 2016 | 27870343 |
| elastic properties of chimpanzee craniofacial cortical bone. | relatively few assessments of cranial biomechanics formally take into account variation in the material properties of cranial cortical bone. our aim was to characterize the elastic properties of chimpanzee craniofacial cortical bone and compare these to the elastic properties of dentate human craniofacial cortical bone. from seven cranial regions, 27 cylindrical samples were harvested from each of five chimpanzee crania. assuming orthotropy, axes of maximum stiffness in the plane of the cortical ... | 2016 | 27870344 |
| review of in vivo bone strain studies and finite element models of the zygomatic complex in humans and nonhuman primates: implications for clinical research and practice. | the craniofacial skeleton is often described in the clinical literature as being comprised of vertical bony pillars, which transmit forces from the toothrow to the neurocranium as axial compressive stresses, reinforced transversely by buttresses. here, we review the literature on bony microarchitecture, in vivo bone strain, and finite-element modeling of the facial skeleton of humans and nonhuman primates to address questions regarding the structural and functional existence of facial pillars an ... | 2016 | 27870351 |
| nut cracking tools used by captive chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) and their comparison with early stone age percussive artefacts from olduvai gorge. | we present the results of a series of experiments at the kumamoto sanctuary in japan, in which captive chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) performed several nut cracking sessions using raw materials from olduvai gorge, tanzania. we examined captive chimpanzee pounding tools using a combination of technological analysis, use-wear distribution, and micro-wear analysis. our results show specific patterns of use-wear distribution across the active surfaces of pounding tools, which reveal some similarities ... | 2016 | 27870877 |
| a human reproductive approach to the study of infertility in chimpanzees: an experience at leon's zoological park, mexico. | great apes are mammals close to humans in their genetic, behavioral, social and evolutionary characteristics and new genomic information is revolutionizing our understanding of evolution in primates. however, all these species are endangered. while there are many global programs to protect these species, the international union for conservation of nature (iucn) projects that in a near future the wild populations will decrease significantly. nowadays, the relevance of captive populations of great ... | 2016 | 27872723 |
| the effects of tradition on problem solving by two wild populations of bearded capuchin monkeys in a probing task. | the effects of culture on individual cognition have become a core issue among cultural primatologists. field studies with wild populations provide evidence on the role of social cues in the ontogeny of tool use in non-human primates, and on the transmission of such behaviours over generations through socially biased learning. recent experimental studies have shown that cultural knowledge may influence problem solving in wild populations of chimpanzees. here, we present the results from a field e ... | 2016 | 27881763 |
| comparative isotope ecology of african great apes. | the isotope ecology of great apes is a useful reference for palaeodietary reconstructions in fossil hominins. as extant apes live in c3-dominated habitats, variation in isotope signatures is assumed to be low compared to hominoids exploiting c4-plant resources. however, isotopic differences between sites and between and within individuals are poorly understood due to the lack of vegetation baseline data. in this comparative study, we included all species of free-ranging african great apes (pan t ... | 2016 | 27886808 |
| mother-infant interactions in captive and wild chimpanzees. | we review studies on mother-infant interactions in chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, in captive and wild environments. infant cognitive development is formed through mother-infant interactions during the long dependent period, which is approximately 5 years. patterns of interaction between mothers and infants are different from those observed in adult chimpanzees. mother-infant interactions are relatively altruistic, although solicitation by infants is almost always required. active tea ... | 2017 | 27887738 |
| chimpanzee uses manipulative gaze cues to conceal and reveal information to foraging competitor. | tactical deception has been widely reported in primates on a functional basis, but details of behavioral mechanisms are usually unspecified. we tested a pair of chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) in the informed forager paradigm, in which the subordinate saw the location of hidden food and the dominant did not. we employed cross-correlations to examine temporal contingencies between chimpanzees' behavior: specifically how the direction of the subordinate's gaze and movement functioned to manipulate t ... | 2017 | 27889921 |
| unexpected cardiac death during anaesthesia of a young rabbit associated with fibro-fatty replacement of the right ventricular myocardium. | a 6-month-old female pet rabbit was presented for routine ovariectomy. the pre-anaesthetic evaluation was unremarkable and no anaesthetic complications occurred during the procedure. however, at the end of the surgery, the rabbit suddenly showed acute bradycardia and cardiac death. necropsy examination revealed marked dilation of the right ventricle, associated with diffuse thinning of the right ventricular free wall. gross and histopathological findings were suggestive of a congenital dilated c ... | 2017 | 27894597 |
| divergence and rewiring of regulatory networks for neural development between human and other species. | neural and brain development in human and other mammalian species are largely similar, but distinct features exist at the levels of macrostructure and underlying genetic control. comparative studies of epigenetic regulation and transcription factor (tf) binding in humans, chimpanzees, rodents, and other species have found large differences in gene regulatory networks. a recent analysis of the cistromes of rest/nrsf, a critical transcriptional regulator for the nervous system, demonstrated that r ... | 2016 | 27900343 |
| chimpanzee seed dispersal in a montane forest fragment in rwanda. | primate seed dispersal plays an important role in forest regeneration. it may be particularly important to anthropogenically disturbed habitats such as forest fragments. however, few studies have examined primate seed dispersal in these types of environments. chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) are frugivorous and large-bodied, and are therefore able to disperse both large and small seeds, making them an important seed dispersal species. we examined chimpanzee seed dispersal in gishwati forest, a 14 k ... | 2017 | 27900783 |
| getting to the bottom of face processing. species-specific inversion effects for faces and behinds in humans and chimpanzees (pan troglodytes). | for social species such as primates, the recognition of conspecifics is crucial for their survival. as demonstrated by the 'face inversion effect', humans are experts in recognizing faces and unlike objects, recognize their identity by processing it configurally. the human face, with its distinct features such as eye-whites, eyebrows, red lips and cheeks signals emotions, intentions, health and sexual attraction and, as we will show here, shares important features with the primate behind. chimpa ... | 2016 | 27902685 |
| limb bone structural proportions and locomotor behavior in a.l. 288-1 ("lucy"). | while there is broad agreement that early hominins practiced some form of terrestrial bipedality, there is also evidence that arboreal behavior remained a part of the locomotor repertoire in some taxa, and that bipedal locomotion may not have been identical to that of modern humans. it has been difficult to evaluate such evidence, however, because of the possibility that early hominins retained primitive traits (such as relatively long upper limbs) of little contemporaneous adaptive significance ... | 2016 | 27902687 |
| assessing the manipulative potentials of monkeys, apes and humans from hand proportions: implications for hand evolution. | the hand structure possesses a greater potential for performing manipulative skills than is typically observed, whether in humans or non-human anthropoids. however, a precise assessment of the potential manipulative skills of hands has been challenging, which hampers our understanding of the evolution of manipulative abilities in anthropoid hands. here, we establish a functional model to quantitatively infer the manipulative potentials of anthropoid hands based on hand proportions. our results r ... | 2016 | 27903877 |
| animal models of respiratory syncytial virus infection. | human respiratory syncytial virus (hrsv) is a major cause of respiratory disease and hospitalisation of infants, worldwide, and is also responsible for significant morbidity in adults and excess deaths in the elderly. there is no licensed hrsv vaccine or effective therapeutic agent. however, there are a growing number of hrsv vaccine candidates that have been developed targeting different populations at risk of hrsv infection. animal models of hrsv play an important role in the preclinical testi ... | 2017 | 27908639 |
| darwin comes to clinic. | what might be the benefits of whole-genome rather than whole-exome sequencing (wes) for identifying the genetic causes of human disabilities? a recent paper by doan et al. focuses attention on mutations in human accelerated regions (hars), a subset of genomic regulatory elements showing accelerated evolution between chimpanzees and humans. | 2017 | 27908673 |
| ebola virus vaccines: where do we stand? | the recent outbreak of ebola virus disease in west africa has led to more than 11,000 deaths, with a peak in mortality from august through december of 2014. a meeting convened by the world health organization (who) in september 2014, concluded that an urgent unmet need exists for efficacy and safety testing of the ebola virus vaccine candidates and that clinical trials should be expedited. these vaccines could be used both in an outbreak setting and to provide long-term protection in populations ... | 2016 | 27910805 |
| bonobo personality traits are heritable and associated with vasopressin receptor gene 1a variation. | despite being closely related, bonobos and chimpanzees show remarkable behavioral differences, the proximate origins of which remain unknown. this study examined the link between behavioral variation and variation in the vasopressin 1a receptor gene (avpr1a) in bonobos. chimpanzees are polymorphic for a ~360 bp deletion (dupb), which includes a microsatellite (rs3) in the 5' promoter region of avpr1a. in chimpanzees, the dupb deletion has been linked to lower sociability, lower social sensitivit ... | 2016 | 27910885 |
| sequential information in a great ape utterance. | birdsong is a prime example of acoustically sophisticated vocal behaviour, but its complexity has evolved mainly through sexual selection to attract mates and repel sexual rivals. in contrast, non-human primate calls often mediate complex social interactions, but are generally regarded as acoustically simple. here, we examine arguably the most complex call in great ape vocal communication, the chimpanzee (pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) 'pant hoot'. this signal consists of four acoustically dist ... | 2016 | 27910886 |
| ion channel activity of vpu proteins is conserved throughout evolution of hiv-1 and siv. | the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) protein vpu is encoded exclusively by hiv-1 and related simian immunodeficiency viruses (sivs). the transmembrane domain of the protein has dual functions: it counteracts the human restriction factor tetherin and forms a cation channel. since these two functions are causally unrelated it remains unclear whether the channel activity has any relevance for viral release and replication. here we examine structure and function correlates of different vp ... | 2016 | 27916968 |
| young children, but not chimpanzees, are averse to disadvantageous and advantageous inequities. | the age at which young children show an aversion to inequitable resource distributions, especially those favoring themselves, is unclear. it is also unclear whether great apes, as humans' nearest evolutionary relatives, have an aversion to inequitable resource distributions at all. using a common methodology across species and child ages, the current two studies found that 3- and 4-year-old children (n=64) not only objected when they received less than a collaborative partner but also sacrificed ... | 2017 | 27918977 |
| apes submentalise. | making subtle and extensive use of eye-tracking technology, krupenye and colleagues showed that, like human infants, great apes - chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans - can accurately anticipate the goal-directed behaviour of an agent that holds a false belief. how do they do it, by mentalising or by submentalising? | 2017 | 27919697 |
| complete genome sequence of streptococcus troglodytae tku31 isolated from the oral cavity of a chimpanzee (pan troglodytes). | streptococcus troglodytae tku31 was isolated from the oral cavity of a chimpanzee (pan troglodytes) and was found to be the most closely related species of the mutans group streptococci to streptococcus mutans. the complete sequence of tku31 genome consists of a single circular chromosome that is 2,097,874 base pairs long and has a g + c content of 37.18%. it possesses 2082 coding sequences (cdss), 65 trnas and five rrna operons (15 rrnas). two clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic r ... | 2016 | 27921343 |
| l1base 2: more retrotransposition-active line-1s, more mammalian genomes. | line-1 (l1) insertions comprise as much as 17% of the human genome sequence, and similar proportions have been recorded for other mammalian species. given the established role of l1 retrotransposons in shaping mammalian genomes, it becomes an important task to track and annotate the sources of this activity: full length elements, able to encode the cis and trans acting components of the retrotransposition machinery. the l1base database (http://l1base.charite.de) contains annotated full-length se ... | 2016 | 27924012 |
| amino acid mutations in the ns4a region of hepatitis c virus contribute to viral replication and infectious virus production. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) strain jfh-1, which belongs to genotype 2a, replicates autonomously in cultured cells, whereas another genotype 2a strain, j6cf, does not. previously, we found that replacement of the ns3 helicase and ns5b-to-3'x regions of j6cf with those of jfh-1 confers j6cf replication competence. in this study, we aimed to identify the minimum modifications within these genomic regions needed to establish replication-competent j6cf. we previously identified 4 mutations in the ns5b-to ... | 2017 | 27928005 |
| mice expressing minimally humanized cd81 and occludin genes support hepatitis c virus uptake in vivo. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) causes chronic infections in at least 150 million individuals worldwide. hcv has a narrow host range and robustly infects only humans and chimpanzees. the underlying mechanisms for this narrow host range are incompletely understood. at the level of entry, differences in the amino acid sequences between the human and mouse orthologues of two essential host factors, the tetraspanin cd81 and the tight junction protein occludin (ocln), explain, at least in part, hcv's limited ... | 2017 | 27928007 |
| social brain hypothesis: vocal and gesture networks of wild chimpanzees. | a key driver of brain evolution in primates and humans is the cognitive demands arising from managing social relationships. in primates, grooming plays a key role in maintaining these relationships, but the time that can be devoted to grooming is inherently limited. communication may act as an additional, more time-efficient bonding mechanism to grooming, but how patterns of communication are related to patterns of sociality is still poorly understood. we used social network analysis to examine ... | 2016 | 27933005 |
| functional characterization of rare foxp2 variants in neurodevelopmental disorder. | heterozygous disruption of foxp2 causes a rare form of speech and language impairment. screens of the foxp2 sequence in individuals with speech/language-related disorders have identified several rare protein-altering variants, but their phenotypic relevance is often unclear. foxp2 encodes a transcription factor with a forkhead box dna-binding domain, but little is known about the functions of protein regions outside this domain. | 2016 | 27933109 |
| hematocrit and hemoglobin levels of nonhuman apes at moderate altitudes: a comparison with humans. | mortola, jacopo p. and deeann wilfong. hematocrit and hemoglobin levels of nonhuman apes at moderate altitudes: a comparison with humans. high alt med biol. 17:323-335, 2016.-we asked to what extent the hematologic response (increase in hematocrit [hct] and in blood hemoglobin concentration [hb]) of humans to altitude hypoxia was shared by our closest relatives, the nonhuman apes. data were collected from 29 specimens of 7 species of apes at 2073 m altitude (barometric pressure pb = 598 mm hg); ... | 2016 | 27959666 |
| ten years of orangutan-related wildlife crime investigation in west kalimantan, indonesia. | poaching for the pet trade is considered one of the main threats to orangutan survival, especially to the bornean species (pongo pygmaeus). however, there have been few attempts to quantify the number of individuals taken from the wild or to evaluate the drivers of the trade. most orangutan poaching is thought to be opportunistic in nature, occurring in conjunction with deforestation for large-scale agriculture. using data from our long-term wildlife crime field investigation program collected f ... | 2016 | 27960033 |
| primate empathy: three factors and their combinations for empathy-related phenomena. | empathy as a research topic is receiving increasing attention, although there seems some confusion on the definition of empathy across different fields. frans de waal (de waal fbm. putting the altruism back into altruism: the evolution of empathy. annu rev psychol 2008, 59:279-300. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093625) used empathy as an umbrella term and proposed a comprehensive model for the evolution of empathy with some of its basic elements in nonhuman animals. in de waal's model, emp ... | 2017 | 27977913 |
| safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of prime-boost vaccination with chad63 and mva encoding me-trap against plasmodium falciparum infection in adults in senegal. | malaria transmission is in decline in some parts of africa, partly due to the scaling up of control measures. if the goal of elimination is to be achieved, additional control measures including an effective and durable vaccine will be required. studies utilising the prime-boost approach to deliver viral vectors encoding the pre-erythrocytic antigen me-trap (multiple epitope thrombospondin-related adhesion protein) have shown promising safety, immunogenicity and efficacy in sporozoite challenge s ... | 2016 | 27978537 |
| assessment of behavior and space use before and after forelimb amputation in a zoo-housed chimpanzee (pan troglodytes). | primates possess great manual dexterity, and their limbs are integral to many aspects of normal functioning (e.g., climbing, feeding). as such, the loss of a limb carries the risk of significant disability and potentially harmful impairment of species-typical functioning. limb loss is known to occur in some wild primate populations due to entanglement in hunting snares, but can also occur in captive settings due to injury that necessitates therapeutic amputation. in this study, we conducted a de ... | 2017 | 27981610 |
| genetic variations in the human g protein-coupled receptor class c, group 6, member a (gprc6a) control cell surface expression and function. | gprc6a is a g protein-coupled receptor activated by l-amino acids, which, based on analyses of knock-out mice, has been suggested to have physiological functions in metabolism and testicular function. the human ortholog is, however, mostly retained intracellularly in contrast to the cell surface-expressed murine and goldfish orthologs. the latter orthologs are gq-coupled and lead to intracellular accumulation of inositol phosphates and calcium release. in the present study we cloned the bonobo c ... | 2017 | 27986810 |
| the nature of prosociality in chimpanzees. | an important debate centres around the nature of prosociality in nonhuman primates. chimpanzees help other individuals in some experimental settings, yet they do not readily share food. one solution to this paradox is that they are motivated to help others provided there are no competing interests. however, benefits to recipients could arise as by-products of testing. here we report two studies that separate by-product from intended helping in chimpanzees using a go/no-go paradigm. actors in one ... | 2016 | 27996969 |
| conservatism and "copy-if-better" in chimpanzees (pan troglodytes). | social learning is predicted to evolve in socially living animals provided the learning process is not random but biased by certain socio-ecological factors. one bias of particular interest for the emergence of (cumulative) culture is the tendency to forgo personal behaviour in favour of relatively better variants observed in others, also known as the "copy-if-better" strategy. we investigated whether chimpanzees employ copy-if-better in a simple token-exchange paradigm controlling for individua ... | 2017 | 27999955 |
| do domestic dogs (canis lupus familiaris) perceive the delboeuf illusion? | in the last decade, visual illusions have been repeatedly used as a tool to compare visual perception among species. several studies have investigated whether non-human primates perceive visual illusions in a human-like fashion, but little attention has been paid to other mammals, and sensitivity to visual illusions has been never investigated in the dog. here, we studied whether domestic dogs perceive the delboeuf illusion. in human and non-human primates, this illusion creates a misperception ... | 2016 | 27999956 |
| fluid dipping technology of chimpanzees in comoé national park, ivory coast. | over a 6 month period during the dry season, from the end of october 2014 to the beginning of may 2015, we studied tool use behavior of previously unstudied and non-habituated savanna chimpanzees (pan troglodytes verus) living in the comoé national park, ivory coast (ci). we analyzed all the stick tools and leaf-sponges found that the chimpanzees used to forage for ants, termites, honey, and water. we found a particular behavior to be widespread across different chimpanzee communities in the par ... | 2017 | 28002878 |
| the heritability of chimpanzee and human brain asymmetry. | human brains are markedly asymmetric in structure and lateralized in function, which suggests a relationship between these two properties. the brains of other closely related primates, such as chimpanzees, show similar patterns of asymmetry, but to a lesser degree, indicating an increase in anatomical and functional asymmetry during hominin evolution. we analysed the heritability of cerebral asymmetry in chimpanzees and humans using classic morphometrics, geometric morphometrics, and quantitativ ... | 2016 | 28003442 |
| distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees. | stone tool transport leaves long-lasting behavioural evidence in the landscape. however, it remains unknown how large-scale patterns of stone distribution emerge through undirected, short-term transport behaviours. one of the longest studied groups of stone-tool-using primates are the chimpanzees of the taï national park in ivory coast, west africa. using hammerstones left behind at chimpanzee panda nut-cracking sites, we tested for a distance-decay effect, in which the weight of material decrea ... | 2016 | 28003445 |
| the psychology of cooperation: insights from chimpanzees and children. | across all cultures, humans engage in cooperative activities that can be as simple as preparing a meal or sharing food with others and as complex as playing in an orchestra or donating to charity. although intraspecific cooperation exists among many other animal species, only humans engage in such a wide array of cooperative interaction and participate in large-scale cooperation that extends beyond kin and even includes strangers. | 2016 | 28004893 |
| proposed association between the hexanucleotide repeat of c9orf72 and opposability index of the thumb. | amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als) is a fatal disease caused by motor neuron and sub-cerebral projection neuron degeneration. we sought to explore the particular susceptibility of humans to neurodegeneration and whether any characteristic human features might predispose to selective vulnerability of the critical motor circuitry in als. the pathophysiology of the c9orf72 repeat is not yet understood, despite its role as a common cause of als and frontotemporal dementia. | 2017 | 28010125 |
| chimpanzee fathers bias their behaviour towards their offspring. | promiscuous mating was traditionally thought to curtail paternal investment owing to the potential costs of providing care to unrelated infants. however, mounting evidence suggests that males in some promiscuous species can recognize offspring. in primates, evidence for paternal care exists in promiscuous cercopithecines, but less is known about these patterns in other taxa. here, we examine two hypotheses for paternal associations with lactating mothers in eastern chimpanzees (pan troglodytes s ... | 2016 | 28018626 |
| alloparenting is associated with reduced maternal lactation effort and faster weaning in wild chimpanzees. | alloparenting, when individuals other than the mother assist with infant care, can vary between and within populations and has potential fitness costs and benefits for individuals involved. we investigated the effects of alloparenting on the speed with which infants were weaned, a potential component of maternal fitness because of how it can affect inter-birth intervals, in wild chimpanzees (pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at ngogo, uganda. we also provide, to our knowledge, the first descriptio ... | 2016 | 28018647 |
| non-human primate schlafen11 inhibits production of both host and viral proteins. | schlafen11 (encoded by the slfn11 gene) has been shown to inhibit the accumulation of hiv-1 proteins. we show that the slfn11 gene is under positive selection in simian primates and is species-specific in its activity against hiv-1. the activity of human schlafen11 is relatively weak compared to that of some other primate versions of this protein, with the versions encoded by chimpanzee, orangutan, gibbon, and marmoset being particularly potent inhibitors of hiv-1 protein production. interesting ... | 2016 | 28027315 |
| oxytocin reactivity during intergroup conflict in wild chimpanzees. | intergroup conflict is evident throughout the history of our species, ubiquitous across human societies, and considered crucial for the evolution of humans' large-scale cooperative nature. like humans, chimpanzee societies exhibit intragroup coordination and coalitionary support during violent intergroup conflicts. in both species, cooperation among group members is essential for individuals to gain access to benefits from engaging in intergroup conflict. studies suggest that a contributive mech ... | 2017 | 28028227 |
| assessment of the plasmodium falciparum preerythrocytic antigen uis3 as a potential candidate for a malaria vaccine. | efforts are under way to improve the efficacy of subunit malaria vaccines through assessments of new adjuvants, vaccination platforms, and antigens. in this study, we further assessed the plasmodium falciparum antigen upregulated in infective sporozoites 3 (pfuis3) as a vaccine candidate. pfuis3 was expressed in the viral vectors chimpanzee adenovirus 63 (chad63) and modified vaccinia virus ankara (mva) and used to immunize mice in a prime-boost regimen. we previously demonstrated that this regi ... | 2017 | 28031267 |
| social learning, culture and the 'socio-cultural brain' of human and non-human primates. | noting important recent discoveries, we review primate social learning, traditions and culture, together with associated findings about primate brains. we survey our current knowledge of primate cultures in the wild, and complementary experimental diffusion studies testing species' capacity to sustain traditions. we relate this work to theories that seek to explain the enlarged brain size of primates as specializations for social intelligence, that have most recently extended to learning from ot ... | 2016 | 28034660 |
| morphological integration of the cranium in homo, pan, and hylobates and the evolution of hominoid facial structures. | modern humans diverge from other extant hominids (chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans) in a series of craniofacial morphological features. like hylobatids, they possess a face with a reduced subnasal prognathism that is associated with a globular basicranium. these traits are not independent, as the skull is a complex integrated structure. the aim of the present study is to determine relationships between the face and the basicranium in two hominid genera (homo and pan) and a hylobatid genus ( ... | 2017 | 28035660 |
| language and imagination: evolutionary explorations. | this article provides a functional analysis of the conditions for language to emerge, and analyzes its role in imagination. it starts with some initial reflections on imagination and its evolutionary beginnings in relation to the role of working memory and tool use by chimpanzees and humans up to modernity. it then presents an analysis of what it takes to develop language, and how language gives rise to higher orders of imagination. an important theme in the discussion is which of the changes in ... | 2016 | 28041788 |
| molecular evolution of the glycosyltransferase 6 gene family in primates. | glycosyltransferase 6 gene family includes abo, ggta1, igb3s, and gbgt1 genes and by three putative genes restricted to mammals, gt6m6, gtm6, and gt6m7, only the latter is found in primates. gt6 genes may encode functional and nonfunctional proteins. ggta1 and gbgt1 genes, for instance, are pseudogenes in catarrhine primates, while igb3s gene is only inactive in human, bonobo, and chimpanzee. even inactivated, these genes tend to be conversed in primates. as some of the gt6 genes are related to ... | 2016 | 28044107 |
| initiation of mtdna transcription is followed by pausing, and diverges across human cell types and during evolution. | mitochondrial dna (mtdna) genes are long known to be cotranscribed in polycistrones, yet it remains impossible to study nascent mtdna transcripts quantitatively in vivo using existing tools. to this end, we used deep sequencing (gro-seq and pro-seq) and analyzed nascent mtdna-encoded rna transcripts in diverse human cell lines and metazoan organisms. surprisingly, accurate detection of human mtdna transcription initiation sites (tiss) in the heavy and light strands revealed a novel conserved tra ... | 2017 | 28049628 |
| social learning and culture in child and chimpanzee. | a few decades ago, we knew next to nothing about the behavior of our closest animal relative, the chimpanzee, but long-term field studies have since revealed an undreamed-of richness in the diversity of their cultural traditions across africa. these discoveries have been complemented by a substantial suite of experimental studies, now bridging to the wild through field experiments. these field and experimental studies, particularly those in which direct chimpanzee-child comparisons have been mad ... | 2017 | 28051932 |
| evolution of transcript modification by n(6)-methyladenosine in primates. | phenotypic differences within populations and between closely related species are often driven by variation and evolution of gene expression. however, most analyses have focused on the effects of genomic variation at cis-regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers that control transcriptional activity, and little is understood about the influence of post-transcriptional processes on transcript evolution. post-transcriptional modification of rna by n(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)a) has been sh ... | 2017 | 28052920 |
| getprime 2.0: gene- and transcript-specific qpcr primers for 13 species including polymorphisms. | getprime (http://bbcftools.epfl.ch/getprime) is a database with a web frontend providing gene- and transcript-specific, pre-computed qpcr primer pairs. the primers have been optimized for genome-wide specificity and for allowing the selective amplification of one or several splice variants of most known genes. to ease selection, primers have also been ranked according to defined criteria such as genome-wide specificity (with blast), amplicon size, and isoform coverage. here, we report a major up ... | 2017 | 28053161 |
| analysis of sea almond (terminalia catappa) cracking sites used by wild burmese long-tailed macaques (macaca fascicularis aurea). | nut-cracking is shared by all non-human primate taxa that are known to habitually use percussive stone tools in the wild: robust capuchins (sapajus spp.), western chimpanzees (pan troglodytes verus), and burmese long-tailed macaques (macaca fascicularis aurea). despite opportunistically processing nuts, burmese long-tailed macaques predominantly use stone tools to process mollusks in coastal environments. here, we present the first comprehensive survey of sea almond (terminalia catappa) nut-crac ... | 2017 | 28056164 |
| a comparative and evolutionary analysis of the cultural cognition of humans and other apes. | the comparative and evolutionary analysis of social learning and all manner of cultural processes has become a flourishing field. applying the 'comparative method' to such phenomena allows us to exploit the good fortunate we have in being able to study them in satisfying detail in our living primate relatives, using the results to reconstruct the cultural cognition of the ancestral forms we share with these species. here i offer an overview of principal discoveries in recent years, organized thr ... | 2017 | 28065215 |
| structure and evolution of the filaggrin gene repeated region in primates. | the evolutionary dynamics of repeat sequences is quite complex, with some duplicates never having differentiated from each other. two models can explain the complex evolutionary process for repeated genes-concerted and birth-and-death, of which the latter is driven by duplications maintained by selection. copy number variations caused by random duplications and losses in repeat regions may modulate molecular pathways and therefore affect phenotypic characteristics in a population, resulting in i ... | 2017 | 28077068 |
| phyloepidemiological analysis reveals that viral divergence led to the paucity of simian immunodeficiency virus sivmus/gsn/mon infections in wild populations. | human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) is the result of cross-species transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus from chimpanzees (sivcpz). sivcpz is a chimeric virus which shares common ancestors with viruses infecting red-capped mangabeys and a subset of guenon species. the epidemiology of siv infection in hominoids is characterized by low prevalences and an uneven geographic distribution. surveys in cameroon indicated that two closely related members of the guenon species subset, must ... | 2017 | 28077632 |
| african non-human primates host diverse enteroviruses. | enteroviruses (evs) belong to the family picornaviridae and are responsible for mild to severe diseases in mammals including humans and non-human primates (nhp). simian evs were first discovered in the 1950s in the old world monkeys and recently in wild chimpanzee, gorilla and mandrill in cameroon. in the present study, we screened by pcr evs in 600 fecal samples of wild apes and monkeys that were collected at four sites in gabon. a total of 32 samples were positive for evs (25 from mandrills, 7 ... | 2017 | 28081564 |
| automated face detection for occurrence and occupancy estimation in chimpanzees. | surveying endangered species is necessary to evaluate conservation effectiveness. camera trapping and biometric computer vision are recent technological advances. they have impacted on the methods applicable to field surveys and these methods have gained significant momentum over the last decade. yet, most researchers inspect footage manually and few studies have used automated semantic processing of video trap data from the field. the particular aim of this study is to evaluate methods that inc ... | 2017 | 28095593 |
| human quarantine: toward reducing infectious pressure on chimpanzees at the taï chimpanzee project, côte d'ivoire. | due to their genetic relatedness, great apes are highly susceptible to common human respiratory pathogens. although most respiratory pathogens, such as human respiratory syncytial virus (hrsv) and human metapneumovirus (hmpv), rarely cause severe disease in healthy human adults, they are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality in wild great apes habituated to humans for research or tourism. to prevent pathogen transmission, most great ape projects have established a set of hygiene m ... | 2017 | 28095600 |
| recombinant adenoviruses displaying matrix 2 ectodomain epitopes on their fiber proteins as universal influenza vaccines. | influenza is a zoonotic disease that poses severe threats to public health and the global economy. reemerging influenza pandemics highlight the demand for universal influenza vaccines. we developed a novel virus platform using extracellular domain iv of the matrix 2 protein (m2e), adc68-f3m2e, by introducing three conserved m2e epitopes into the hi loop of the chimpanzee adenovirus (adv) fiber protein. the m2e epitopes were expressed sufficiently on the adv virion surface without affecting fiber ... | 2017 | 28100621 |
| pathogenicity determinants of the human malaria parasite plasmodium falciparum have ancient origins. | plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly of the human malaria parasites, is a member of the laverania subgenus that also infects african great apes. the virulence of p. falciparum is related to cytoadhesion of infected erythrocytes in microvasculature, but the origin of dangerous parasite adhesion traits is poorly understood. to investigate the evolutionary history of the p. falciparum cytoadhesion pathogenicity determinant, we studied adhesion domains from the chimpanzee malaria parasite p. reich ... | 2017 | 28101534 |
| social models enhance apes' memory for novel events. | nonhuman primates are more likely to learn from the actions of a social model than a non-social "ghost display", however the mechanism underlying this effect is still unknown. one possibility is that live models are more engaging, drawing increased attention to social stimuli. however, recent research with humans has suggested that live models fundamentally alter memory, not low-level attention. in the current study, we developed a novel eye-tracking paradigm to disentangle the influence of soci ... | 2017 | 28106098 |
| nesting ecology of a small montane population of the nigerian/cameroon chimpanzee (pan troglodytes ellioti) in nigeria. | understanding nest site choice by chimpanzees has implications for ecology, anthropology, and in the collection of census data, yet it remains controversial. here we provide the first information on environmental factors affecting nest site choice in a montane population of the rare and relatively understudied nigerian/cameroon chimpanzee (pan troglodytes ellioti) in ngel nyaki forest reserve, nigeria. the forest is small, isolated, and visited by researchers, community members, and hunters. we ... | 2016 | 28110325 |
| a theory for the origin of human menopause. | a complete and compelling evolutionary explanation for the origin of human menopause is wanting. menopause onset is defined clinically as the final menses, confirmed after 1 year without menstruation. the theory proposed herein explains at multiple levels - ultimately genetic but involving (1) behavioral, (2) life history, and (3) social changes - the origin and evolution of menopause in women. individuals in lower paleolithic human populations were characterized by short lifespans with diminish ... | 2016 | 28111590 |
| plasmodium malariae and p. ovale genomes provide insights into malaria parasite evolution. | elucidation of the evolutionary history and interrelatedness of plasmodium species that infect humans has been hampered by a lack of genetic information for three human-infective species: p. malariae and two p. ovale species (p. o. curtisi and p. o. wallikeri). these species are prevalent across most regions in which malaria is endemic and are often undetectable by light microscopy, rendering their study in human populations difficult. the exact evolutionary relationship of these species to the ... | 2017 | 28117441 |
| leaf swallowing and parasite expulsion in khao yai white-handed gibbons (hylobates lar), the first report in an asian ape species. | leaf swallowing behavior, known as a form of self-medication for the control of nematode and tapeworm infection, occurs widely in all the african great apes (pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, p. t. troglodytes, p. t. verus, p. t. vellerosus, pan paniscus, gorilla gorilla graueri), except mountain gorillas. it is also reported to occur in a similar context across a wide array of other animal taxa including, domestic dogs, wolves, brown bears, and civets. despite long-term research on asian great an ... | 2017 | 28118500 |
| recent positive selection in genes of the mammalian epidermal differentiation complex locus. | the epidermal differentiation complex (edc) is the most rapidly evolving locus in the human genome compared to that of the chimpanzee. yet the edc genes that are undergoing positive selection across mammals and in humans are not known. we sought to identify the positively selected genetic variants and determine the evolutionary events of the edc using mammalian-wide and clade-specific branch- and branch-site likelihood ratio tests and a genetic algorithm (ga) branch test. significant non-synonym ... | 2016 | 28119736 |
| incomplete control and concessions explain mating skew in male chimpanzees. | sexual selection theory predicts that because male reproductive success in mammals is limited by access to females, males will attempt to defend access to mates and exclude rivals from mating. in mammals, dominance rank is correlated with male reproductive success; however, the highest-ranking (alpha) male rarely monopolizes reproduction completely. to explain why, incomplete control models propose that alpha males simply cannot control other males' access to mates. if true, then dominance rank ... | 2016 | 28120796 |
| utility of osteon circularity for determining species and interpreting load history in primates and nonprimates. | histomorphological analyses of bones are used to estimate an individual's chronological age, interpret a bone's load history, and differentiate species. among various histomorphological characteristics that can influence mechanical properties of cortical bone, secondary osteon (haversian system) population density and predominant collagen fiber orientation are particularly important. cross-sectional shape characteristics of secondary osteons (on.cr = osteon circularity, on.el = osteon elliptical ... | 2017 | 28121024 |
| resurrecting kir2dp1: a key intermediate in the evolution of human inhibitory nk cell receptors that recognize hla-c. | kir2dp1 is an inactive member of the human lineage iii kir family, which includes all hla-c-specific receptor genes. the lethal, and only, defect in kir2dp1 is a nucleotide deletion in codon 88. fixed in modern humans, the deletion is also in archaic human genomes. kir2dp1 is polymorphic, with dimorphism at specificity-determining position 44. by repairing the deletion, we resurrected 11 alleles of kir2dp1(f) , the functional antecedent of kir2dp1 we demonstrate how k44-kir2dp1(f) with lysine 44 ... | 2017 | 28122963 |
| patterns in gut microbiota similarity associated with degree of sociality among sex classes of a neotropical primate. | studies of human and domestic animal models indicate that related individuals and those that spend the most time in physical contact typically have more similar gut microbial communities. however, few studies have examined these factors in wild mammals where complex social dynamics and a variety of interacting environmental factors may impact the patterns observed in controlled systems. here, we explore the effect of host kinship and time spent in social contact on the gut microbiota of wild, bl ... | 2017 | 28124727 |
| chimpanzees process structural isomorphisms across sensory modalities. | evolution has shaped animal brains to detect sensory regularities in environmental stimuli. in addition, many species map one-dimensional quantities across sensory modalities, such as conspecific faces to voices, or high-pitched sounds to bright light. if basic patterns like repetitions and identities are frequently perceived in different sensory modalities, it could be advantageous to detect cross-modal isomorphisms, i.e. develop modality-independent representations of structural features, expl ... | 2017 | 28135575 |
| pharmacokinetics of the novel echinocandin cd101 in multiple animal species. | cd101 is a novel semisynthetic echinocandin with antifungal activity against candida and aspergillus spp. the pharmacokinetics (pk) of cd101 administered intravenously to mice, rats, dogs, cynomolgus monkeys, and chimpanzees are presented. cd101 consistently exhibited very low clearance, a modest volume of distribution at steady state (vss), and a long half-life (t1/2) across all species tested. in mouse, rat, dog, cynomolgus monkey, and chimpanzee, cd101 clearance was 0.10, 0.47, 0.30, 0.41, an ... | 2017 | 28137817 |
| evolution of local mutation rate and its determinants. | mutation rate varies along the human genome, and part of this variation is explainable by measurable local properties of the dna molecule. moreover, mutation rates differ between orthologous genomic regions of different species, but the drivers of this change are unclear. here, we use data on human divergence from chimpanzee, human rare polymorphism, and human de novo mutations to predict the substitution rate at orthologous regions of non-human mammals. we show that the local mutation rates are ... | 2017 | 28138076 |
| loss of cmah during human evolution primed the monocyte-macrophage lineage toward a more inflammatory and phagocytic state. | humans and chimpanzees are more sensitive to endotoxin than are mice or monkeys, but any underlying differences in inflammatory physiology have not been fully described or understood. we studied innate immune responses in cmah(-/-) mice, emulating human loss of the gene encoding production of neu5gc, a major cell surface sialic acid. cmp-n-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (cmah) loss occurred ∼2-3 million years ago, after the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, perhaps contributing to sp ... | 2017 | 28148732 |
| conspiracy beliefs and knowledge about hiv origins among adolescents in soweto, south africa. | we examined adolescents' knowledge regarding the origin of hiv/aids and correlates of beliefs surrounding conspiracy theories in soweto, south africa. now, a decade post-aids denialism, south africa has the largest antiretroviral therapy roll-out worldwide. however, conspiracy theories stemming from past aids denialism may impact hiv prevention and treatment efforts. | 2017 | 28151937 |
| hiv-1 conserved mosaics delivered by regimens with integration-deficient dc-targeting lentiviral vector induce robust t cells. | to be effective against hiv type 1 (hiv-1), vaccine-induced t cells must selectively target epitopes, which are functionally conserved (present in the majority of currently circulating and reactivated hiv-1 strains) and, at the same time, beneficial (responses to which are associated with better clinical status and control of hiv-1 replication), and rapidly reach protective frequencies upon exposure to the virus. heterologous prime-boost regimens using virally vectored vaccines are currently the ... | 2017 | 28153096 |
| the extraordinary nature of barney's drumming: a complementary study of ordinary noise making in chimpanzees. | in a previous study (dufour et al., 2015) we reported the unusual characteristics of the drumming performance of a chimpanzee named barney. his sound production, several sequences of repeated drumming on an up-turned plastic barrel, shared features typical for human musical drumming: it was rhythmical, decontextualized, and well controlled by the chimpanzee. this type of performance raises questions about the origins of our musicality. here we recorded spontaneously occurring events of sound pro ... | 2017 | 28154521 |
| changes in lipidome composition during brain development in humans, chimpanzees, and macaque monkeys. | lipids are essential components of the brain. here, we conducted a comprehensive mass spectrometry-based analysis of lipidome composition in the prefrontal cortex of 40 humans, 40 chimpanzees, and 40 rhesus monkeys over postnatal development and adulthood. of the 11,772 quantified lipid peaks, 7,589 change significantly along the lifespan. more than 60% of these changes occur prior to adulthood, with less than a quarter associated with myelination progression. evolutionarily, 36% of the age-depe ... | 2017 | 28158622 |
| cytidine deaminase efficiency of the lentiviral viral restriction factor apobec3c correlates with dimerization. | the seven apobec3 (a3) enzymes in primates restrict hiv/siv replication to differing degrees by deaminating cytosine in viral (-)dna, which forms promutagenic uracils that inactivate the virus. a polymorphism in human apobec3c (a3c) that encodes an s188i mutation increases the enzymatic activity of the protein and its ability to restrict hiv-1, and correlates with increased propensity to form dimers. however, other hominid a3c proteins only have an s188, suggesting they should be less active lik ... | 2017 | 28158858 |
| the mitochondrial genome of the guanaco louse, microthoracius praelongiceps: insights into the ancestral mitochondrial karyotype of sucking lice (anoplura, insecta). | fragmented mitochondrial (mt) genomes have been reported in 11 species of sucking lice (suborder anoplura) that infest humans, chimpanzees, pigs, horses, and rodents. there is substantial variation among these lice in mt karyotype: the number of minichromosomes of a species ranges from 9 to 20; the number of genes in a minichromosome ranges from 1 to 8; gene arrangement in a minichromosome differs between species, even in the same genus. we sequenced the mt genome of the guanaco louse, microthor ... | 2017 | 28164215 |
| therapeutic vaccine against primate papillomavirus infections of the cervix. | currently available prophylactic vaccines have no therapeutic efficacy for preexisting human papillomavirus (hpvs) infections, do not target all oncogenic hpvs and are insufficient to eliminate the burden of hpv induced cancer. we aim to develop an alternative hpv vaccine which is broadly effective and capable of clearing preexisting infection. in an initial attempt to develop a broadly reactive therapeutic vaccine, we designed a putative papillomavirus (pv) ancestor antigen (circulating sequenc ... | 2017 | 28166180 |
| socially transmitted diffusion of a novel behavior from subordinate chimpanzees. | chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) demonstrate much cultural diversity in the wild, yet a majority of novel behaviors do not become group-wide traditions. since many such novel behaviors are introduced by low-ranking individuals, a bias toward copying dominant individuals ("rank-bias") has been proposed as an explanation for their limited diffusion. previous experimental work showed that chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) preferentially copy dominant over low-rank models. we investigated whether low ranki ... | 2017 | 28171684 |
| [heart transplantation;allograft and xenograft]. | prior to starting clinical cardiac allotransplantation, cardiac xenotransplantation was performed in human in 1960s. in 1964, hardy performed cardiac transplantation using a chimpanzee heart and bailey performed cardiac transplantation using a baboon heart to an infant with hypoplastic left heart. the use of cyclosporine has greatly improved the outcome of clinical cardiac transplantation and cardiac allotransplantation became an established treatment strategy for the patients with end-stage hea ... | 2017 | 28174392 |
| evaluation of plasmodium vivax cell-traversal protein for ookinetes and sporozoites as a preerythrocytic p. vivax vaccine. | four different vaccine platforms, each targeting the human malaria parasite plasmodium vivax cell-traversal protein for ookinetes and sporozoites (pvceltos), were generated and assessed for protective efficacy. these platforms consisted of a recombinant chimpanzee adenoviral vector 63 (chad63) expressing pvceltos (ad), a recombinant modified vaccinia virus ankara expressing pvceltos (mva), pvceltos conjugated to bacteriophage qβ virus-like particles (vlps), and a recombinant pvceltos protein exp ... | 2017 | 28179403 |
| keas perform similarly to chimpanzees and elephants when solving collaborative tasks. | cooperation between individuals is one of the defining features of our species. while other animals, such as chimpanzees, elephants, coral trout and rooks also exhibit cooperative behaviours, it is not clear if they think about cooperation in the same way as humans do. in this study we presented the kea, a parrot endemic to new zealand, with a series of tasks designed to assess cooperative cognition. we found that keas were capable of working together, even when they had to wait for their partne ... | 2017 | 28199322 |
| the laminar organization of the motor cortex in monodactylous mammals: a comparative assessment based on horse, chimpanzee, and macaque. | the architecture of the neocortex classically consists of six layers, based on cytological criteria and on the layout of intra/interlaminar connections. yet, the comparison of cortical cytoarchitectonic features across different species proves overwhelmingly difficult, due to the lack of a reliable model to analyze the connection patterns of neuronal ensembles forming the different layers. we first defined a set of suitable morphometric cell features, obtained in digitized nissl-stained sections ... | 2017 | 28210850 |
| validation of a method for the assessment of urinary neopterin levels to monitor health status in non-human-primate species. | determining individual health status is of great importance for a better understanding of life history trade-offs between growth, reproduction, and maintenance. however, existing immunological methods are invasive and therefore not suitable for investigating health status in wild populations. thus, there is an urgent need for non-invasive methods to assess the immune status of animals. neopterin is involved in the cell-mediated pathway of the immune response (th1-type), secreted during the activ ... | 2017 | 28220080 |
| chimpanzee down syndrome: a case study of trisomy 22 in a captive chimpanzee. | we report a case of chimpanzee trisomy 22 in a captive-born female. because chromosome 22 in great apes is homologous to human chromosome 21, the present case is analogous to human trisomy 21, also called down syndrome. the chimpanzee in the present case experienced retarded growth; infantile cataract and vision problems, including nystagmus, strabismus, and keratoconus; congenital atrial septal defect; and hypodontia. all of these symptoms are common in human down syndrome. this case was the se ... | 2017 | 28220267 |