Molecular Systematics of the Mangabeys (Cercocebus and Lophocebus)

非洲猴（狒狒，猕猴和白眉猴）形态多样，生活在各种各样的栖息地。 它们为研究灵长类动物和人类进化的过程和模式提供了一个很好的模型。 为了了解不同的特征是如何进化的，以及它们是否进化了不止一次，需要推断出准确的同源性。 为了最好地推断这样的遗传，需要分析多个独立的分子序列或标记。 为此，将在多种非洲乳头蛋白中对线粒体和核（X染色体、Y染色体、常染色体）DNA的数千至一万多个碱基对的大型比较多位点数据集进行测序。 此外，将对40个Alu插入进行基因分型。 这些标记已被证明在进化分析中非常强大，因为它们在基因组位置中的共同存在是关系的强有力指标。 本研究将集中于白眉猴属（Cercocebus属和Lophocebus属），包括最近发现的两种白眉猴。sanjei和“Lophocebus”kipunji。 初步分析表明，有一个复杂的演化历史内Cercocebus/Mandrillus分支与长脸的大身体的mandriles和钻可能是更密切相关的一些较小的身体短面的Cercocebus物种比这些物种是其他成员自己的属。 类似地，狮尾狒狒和其他狒狒与Lophocebus物种之间的关系可能同样复杂。 该项目的目标是产生非洲papionins的强大的进化史，以便更好地推断相似的形态特征，如身体大小和头骨形状，如何独立地进化多次，以及它们的整体进化历史和发展。这项研究的更广泛的影响将包括培训几个研究生，本科生，甚至是高中生了解最新的分子实验室技术和用于理解分子数据的日益重要的分析方法。 这些旧大陆灵长类动物在理解SIV/HIV和其他病原体的进化方面也至关重要。 拥有一个强大的同源性将使研究人员能够推断出宿主转换和与此类病原体共同进化的模式。 几乎所有这些非洲灵长类动物都处于极度濒危状态，本研究收集的数据将有助于更好地划分迫切需要保护的群体。

African papionin monkeys (baboons, macaques, and mangabeys) are morphologically diverse and live in a wide variety of habitats. They provide an excellent model for studying the processes and patterns of primate and human evolution. To understand how different features have evolved and if they have evolved more than once, an accurate phylogeny needs to be inferred. To best infer such a phylogeny, multiple independent molecular sequences or markers need to be analyzed. To this end, a large comparative multilocus dataset of several thousand to over ten thousand base pairs of mitochondrial and nuclear (X chromosomal, Y chromosomal, autosomal) DNA will be sequenced in a variety of African papionins. Additionally, 40 Alu insertions will be genotyped. These markers have proven extremely powerful in evolutionary analyses as their shared presence in a genomic location is a strong indicator of relationship. This study will concentrate on the mangabeys (genera Cercocebus and Lophocebus) including the two most recently discovered species C. sanjei and "Lophocebus" kipunji. Preliminary analyses suggest that there is a complex evolutionary history within the Cercocebus/Mandrillus clade with the long faced large bodied mandrills and drills perhaps being more closely related to some of the smaller bodied short faced species of Cercocebus than these species are to other members of their own genus. Similarly, the relationships amongst gelada and other baboons to the species of Lophocebus may be equally complex. The goal of this project is to generate a robust phylogeny of the African papionins in order to allow better inferences of how similar morphological features such as body size and shape of the skull have evolved independently multiple times as well as their overall evolutionary history and development.Broader impacts of this study will include the training of several graduate, undergraduate, and even high school students in the latest molecular laboratory techniques and the increasingly important analytical methods used to understand molecular data. These Old World primates are also critical in understanding the evolution of SIV/HIV and other pathogens. Having a robust phylogeny will allow researchers to infer patterns of host-switching and co-evolution with such pathogens. Almost all of these African primates are critically endangered and the data collected in this study will allow for the better delineation of groups in dire need of conservation.