ABO Blood groups in cebidae (Platyrrhini, Primates) from the Rio Jamari Region

Abstract

Blood and saliva samples were collected from 84 Aotus azarae boliviensis, 31 Ateles paniscus chamek, 130 Callicebus brunneus, 130 Cebus apella, 117 Pithecia irrorata irrorata, and 117 Saimirt ustus. Saliva samples were investigated for human ABH antigens by the standard hemagglutination inhibition test. Two species, P. irrorata and C. brunneus showed monomorphism, presenting only the A blood group. Among the polymorphic species, A. paniscus and C. apella presented the O (30 and 3) and A (1 and 127) phenotypes, and the B (80) and AB (4) phenotypes were detected in A. azarae. S. ustus was the only species that presented all the four phenotypes. The observed distribution was as expected assuming Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium to be present in those species that could be tested. The ABH substances were titrated and a comparison among species was made. Serum samples were used to detect natural antibodies and the results showed some disagreement between serum and saliva phenotypes.

ABO blood groups in the primate species of Cebidae from the Amazon region

“…[23] and Schneider and Harada [18] have shown that only two phenotypes were detected which are attributed to the occurrence of I A and I B alleles. These results are similar to those reported in the present paper but several authors [14, 19, 22] have also described O, A, AB and B phenotypes in other species of this genus.…”

“…Although Rocha et al. [14] have found the A phenotype in a total of 130 samples of C. apella , other previous reports have shown that the genus Cebus is very heterogeneous [6, 17, 21].…”

Primate ABO Gene is under Weak Positive Selection

“…A or O "molecular patterns" with leucine and glycine at codons 266 and 268 respectively, it is predominant among the NWM analysed, including those with unknown phenotypes, therefore it is more likely that these NWM have A or O phenotypes. This observation is coherent with earlier works that found more specie platyrrhines with A or O phenotype (Corvelo et al, 1985;Hamel et al, 1988;Rocha et al, 1992;Schneider et al, 1993). However, Cebus olivaceus seem has AB phenotype because has methionine and glycine at 266 and 268.…”

“…The specificity of the A and B transferases in NWM is determinate by codons 266 and 268, such as in the ABO glycosyltransferases of catarrhine. Among typed samples, Callicebus brunneus is an exception presenting methionine and serine in the codon position 266 and 268 and possesses A phenotype detected by saliva inhibition test (Rocha et al, 1992). The same molecular pattern was observed in others samples of Callicebus (C. personatus and C. moloch), but theirs phenotypes are unknown.…”