The evolution of primate species are divided into hominoids鈥攁 group of tail-less primate species that includes gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans鈥攁nd nonhominoids, which have tails and are more distant primate relatives of humans. The measure of each species鈥 evolution is measured in 鈥渕ya,鈥 or million years ago. For the hominoids, homo and pan evolved 6 mya, while gorilla evolved 7 mya, pongo evolved 14 mya, and gibbons evolved 18 mya. For the nonhominoids, old world monkeys evolved 25 mya, new world monkeys evolved 40 mya, tarsiiformes 58 mya, and lemuriformes 63 mya.
Image Courtesy of Biorender
A new study suggests that an ancient genetic change helps to explain why apes and people do not have tails, but monkeys still do. A team of scientists says it may have pinpointed the genetic mutation that contributed to tail loss. When the scientists made this genetic tweak in mice, some of the animals didn鈥檛 grow tails, according to a study that was posted on a preprint server last week.
Researchers over time have identified more than 30 genes involved in the development of tails in various species. Scientists are still learning how their unique activity at the end of an embryo gives rise to a tail. The authors of the new study reasoned that our ancestors lost their tails when mutations altered one or more of these genes. To search for those mutations, scientists compared the DNA of six species of tail-less apes to nine species of tailed monkeys. Eventually, they discovered a mutation shared by apes and humans鈥攂ut missing in monkeys鈥攊n a gene called TBXT.
鈥淭his question鈥攚here鈥檚 my tail?鈥攈as been in my head since I was a kid,鈥 says corresponding study author Bo Xia, a graduate student in stem cell biology at 秘密研究所 Grossman School of Medicine. When he brought the finding to his supervisors鈥, director of the , and , the Sol and Judith Bergstein Director of the 鈥攖hey both said, 鈥淚 nearly fell off my chair.鈥
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