Mitogenomics of the Old World monkey tribe Papionini

Abstract

BackgroundThe evolutionary history of the Old World monkey tribe Papionini comprising the genera Macaca, Mandrillus, Cercocebus, Lophocebus, Theropithecus, Rungwecebus and Papio is still matter of debate. Although the African Papionini (subtribe Papionina) are generally considered to be the sister lineage to the Asian Papionini (subtribe Macacina), previous studies based on morphological data, nuclear or mitochondrial sequences have shown contradictory phylogenetic relationships among and within both subtribes. To further elucidate the phylogenetic relationships among papionins and to estimate divergence ages we generated mitochondrial genome data and combined them with previously published sequences.ResultsOur mitochondrial gene tree comprises 33 papionins representing all genera of the tribe except Rungwecebus. In contrast to most previous studies, the obtained phylogeny suggests a division of the Papionini into three main mitochondrial clades with similar ages: 1) Papio, Theropithecus, Lophocebus; 2) Mandrillus, Cercocebus; and 3) Macaca; the Mandrillus + Cercocebus clade appears to be more closely related to Macaca than to the other African Papionini. Further, we find paraphyletic relationships within the Mandrillus + Cercocebus clade as well as in Papio. Relationships among Theropithecus, Lophocebus and Papio remain unresolved. Divergence ages reveal initial splits within the three mitochondrial clades around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary and differentiation of Macaca species groups occurred on a similar time scale as those found between genera of the subtribe Papionina.ConclusionDue to the largely well-resolved mitochondrial phylogeny, our study provides new insights into the evolutionary history of the Papionini. Results show some contradictory relationships in comparison to previous analyses, notably the paraphyly within the Cercocebus + Mandrillus clade and three instead of only two major mitochondrial clades. Divergence ages among species groups of macaques are similar to those among African Papionini genera, suggesting that diversification of the mitochondrial genome is of a similar magnitude in both subtribes. However, since our mitochondrial tree represents just a single gene tree that most likely does not reflect the true species tree, extensive nuclear sequence data is required to illuminate the true species phylogeny of papionins and to trace possible ancient hybridization events among lineages.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0176-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Distribution of Mitochondrial Clades and Morphotypes of BaboonsPapiospp. (Primates: Cercopithecidae) in Eastern Africa

“…The general topology of our phylogenetic tree for Papio in eastern Africa is similar to those found in earlier studies (Zinner et al, 2009a(Zinner et al, , 2011Liedigk et al, 2014).…”

Phylogenetic relationships within the Cercocebus–Mandrillus clade as indicated by craniodental morphology: Implications for evolutionary biogeography

“…Since multiple outgroups improve phylogenetic results (e.g., Maddison et al, ; Strait and Grine, ), we additionally assigned Macaca as an outgroup. Macaca was chosen because it is universally recognized as the sister taxon to the other extant papionins (Cronin and Sarich, ; Szalay and Delson, ; Strasser and Delson, ; Disotell et al, ; Disotell, ; Harris and Disotell, ; Fleagle, ; Tosi et al, ; Harris, ; Xing et al, ; but see Liedigk et al, ). Rungwecebus was excluded as an outgroup due to the lack of any adult specimens (see Davenport et al, ; Gilbert et al, ).…”

“…In these studies, C. torquatus clustered with Mandrillus forming a sister group to other Cercocebus taxa, suggesting contemporary and/or ancient introgressive hybridization among these sympatric species. In the most recent study, Liedigk et al () found a single mitochondrial genome of C. chrysogaster to be closely related to Mandrillus leucophaeus . Thus, while uncertainty exists regarding the relationships within the genus Cercocebus , none of the previous biogeographic hypotheses proposed in the literature are well‐supported by recent molecular analyses.…”

Accelerated pseudogenization of trace amine‐associated receptor genes in primates

“…It is likely that TAAR8 was pseudogenized in Simiiformes but subsequently resurrected in humans (magenta). The tree is obtained from recent primate phylogenetic studies 47,48,84 and their approximate divergence times (MYA) are obtained from Perelman et al 47 Interestingly, all African apes (Homininae) have lost TAAR4. Two independent TAAR4 pseudogenization events in two arboreal primates, the white-cheeked gibbon and the marmoset, were also observed.…”