The myoglobin of primates: IV. New world monkeys: Cebidae: (1) Saimiri sciureus (Squirrel monkey); (2) Lagothrix lagothricha (Humboldt's woolly monkey). Callitrichidae: Callithrix jacchus (Common marmoset)

Abstract

The myoglobin of two Cebidae, a squirrel monkey and woolly monkey differed in four of 153 amino acid residues. When four marmosets ( Callitrichidae) were examined, it was found that in three positions in which the two Cebidae were alike, the marmosets differed in two, and in the third they showed a polymorphism, some having the same lysine residue as the two Cebidae, and some a residue of arginine. In four positions where the two Cebidae differed, the marmosets resembled the squirrel monkey in two, and the woolly monkey in two. There were 17, 16, and 14 differences, respectively, between human myoglobin and the myoglobins of the squirrel monkey, the woolly monkey, and (not counting the polymorphism) the marmoset. In all three South American monkeys, there was evidence for an additional minor myoglobin which did not seem to be an artefact. An attempt has been made to construct an ancestral myoglobin chain for Old and New World primates.