A team of scientists from around the world has completed the genome sequence of the common marmoset – the first sequence of a New World Monkey – providing new information about the marmoset’s unique rapid reproductive system, physiology and growth shedding new light on primate biology and evolution.

The work, published in the journal Nature Genetics, has been led by Baylor College of Medicine and Washington University St. Louis with participation of Tomàs Marquès Bonet, leader of the Comparative Genomics team of the CNAG, researcher at the IBE (UPF-CSIC) and ICREA Research Professor and Belén Lorente Galdós, postdoctoral researcher in his team.

With the sequence of the marmoset, the team revealed for the first time the genome of a non-human primate in the New World monkeys, which represents a separate branch in the primate evolutionary tree that is more distant from humans than those whose genomes have been studied in detail before. The sequence allows researchers to broaden their ability to study the human genome and its history as revealed by comparison with other primates. The study revealed unique genetic characteristics observed in the marmoset, including several genes that are likely responsible for their ability to consistently reproduce multiple births.

Work of reference:

The common marmoset genome provides insight into primate biology and evolution

Image from the Southwest National Primate Research Center