Correlates of genetic monogamy in socially monogamous mammals: insights from Azara's owl monkeys.

Understanding the evolution of mating systems, a central topic in evolutionary biology for more than 50 years, requires examining the genetic consequences of mating and the relationships between social systems and mating systems. Among pair-living mammals, where genetic monogamy is extremely rare, the extent of extra-group paternity rates has been associated with male participation in infant care, strength of the pair bond and length of the breeding season. This study evaluated the relationship between two of those factors and the genetic mating system of socially monogamous mammals, testing predictions that male care and strength of pair bond would be negatively correlated with rates of extra-pair paternity (EPP).

Human-specific epigenetic variation in the immunological Leukotriene B4 Receptor (LTB4R/BLT1) implicated in common inflammatory diseases.

Background: Common human diseases are caused by the complex interplay of genetic susceptibility as well as environmental factors. Due to the environment's influence on the epigenome, and therefore genome function, as well as conversely the genome's facilitative effect on the epigenome, analysis of this level of regulation may increase our knowledge of disease pathogenesis.

Methods: In order to identify human-specific epigenetic influences, we have performed a novel genome-wide DNA methylation analysis comparing human, chimpanzee and rhesus macaque.

The endocrinology of male rhesus macaque social and reproductive status: a test of the challenge and social stress hypotheses.

Social status primarily determines male mammalian reproductive success, and hypotheses on the endocrinology of dominance have stimulated unprecedented investigation of its costs and benefits. Under the challenge hypothesis, male testosterone levels rise according to competitive need, while the social stress hypothesis predicts glucocorticoid (GC) rises in high ranking individuals during social unrest. Periods of social instability in group-living primates, primarily in baboons, provide evidence for both hypotheses, but data on social instability in seasonally-breeding species with marked social despotism but lower reproductive skew are lacking.

A flanker effect for moving visual stimuli.

Visual motion perception is essential for appropriate behavior in a dynamic visual world. It is influenced by voluntary attention towards or away from moving objects as well as by the capture of automatic attention by salient stimuli. Both kinds of attention play a major role in the Eriksen Flanker Task (EFT),where a central stimulus has to be identified in the presence of flanking distractors.

Sexual signalling in female crested macaques and the evolution of primate fertility signals.

Background: Female signals of fertility have evolved in diverse taxa. Among the most interesting study systems are those of multimale multifemale group-living primates, where females signal fertility to males through multiple signals, and in which there is substantial inter-specific variation in the composition and reliability of such signals. Among the macaques, some species display reliable behavioural and/or anogenital signals while others do not.

Mucocutaneous candidiasis in a mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx).

An adult male mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) suffered from chronic ulceration of the facial and gluteal skin and the oral and nasal mucosa. The ulcers were resistant to therapy and led to deterioration in the general condition of the animal. Microscopical examination revealed a severe, chronic, multifocal, granulomatous and eosinophilic dermatitis and panniculitis.

Convenience polyandry or convenience polygyny? Costly sex under female control in a promiscuous primate.

Classic sex roles depict females as choosy, but polyandry is widespread. Empirical attempts to understand the evolution of polyandry have often focused on its adaptive value to females, whereas 'convenience polyandry' might simply decrease the costs of sexual harassment. We tested whether constraint-free female strategies favour promiscuity over mating selectivity through an original experimental design.

Increased APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F expression is associated with low viral load and prolonged survival in simian immunodeficiency virus infected rhesus monkeys.

Background: The cytidine deaminases APOBEC3G (A3G) and APOBEC3F (A3F) are innate cellular factors that inhibit replication of a number of viruses, including HIV-1. Since antiviral activity of APOBEC3 has been mainly confirmed by in vitro data, we examined their role for disease progression in the SIV/macaque model for AIDS.

Results: We quantified A3G and A3F mRNA in PBMC and leukocyte subsets of uninfected and SIVmac-infected rhesus macaques.

Urinary C-peptide of insulin as a non-invasive marker of nutritional status: some practicalities.

Nutritional status is a critical element of many aspects of animal ecology, but has proven difficult to measure non-invasively in studies of free-ranging animals. Urinary C-peptide of insulin (UCP), a small polypeptide cleaved in an equimolar ratio from proinsulin when the body converts it to insulin, offers great promise in this regard, and recent studies of several non-human primate species have utilized it with encouraging results. Despite this, there are a number of unresolved issues related to the collection, processing, storage and transport of samples.

Urinary C-peptide measurement as a marker of nutritional status in macaques.

Studies of the nutritional status of wild animals are important in a wide range of research areas such as ecology, behavioural ecology and reproductive biology. However, they have so far been strongly limited by the indirect nature of the available non-invasive tools for the measurement of individual energetic status. The measurement of urinary C-peptide (UCP), which in humans and great apes shows a close link to individual nutritional status, may be a more direct, non-invasive tool for such studies in other primates as well and possibly even in non-primate mammals.

Conditional expression of full-length humanized anti-prion protein antibodies in Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Because of their high antigen specificity and metabolic stability, genetically engineered human monoclonal antibodies are on the way to becoming one of the most promising medical diagnostics and therapeutics. In order to establish an in vitro system capable of producing such biosimilar antibodies, we used human constant chain sequences to design the novel human antibody expressing vector cassette pMAB-ABX. A bidirectional tetracycline (tet)-controllable promotor was used for harmonized expression of immunoglobulin type G (IgG) heavy and light chains.

Epidermal growth factor effects on marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus) oocyte in vitro maturation, IVF and embryo development are altered by gonadotrophin concentration during oocyte maturation.

Background: This is the first study of the effect of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on marmoset monkey oocytes matured in vitro.

Methods: We have evaluated the effects of 10 ng/ml EGF in combination with 1 or 10 IU/ml of gonadotrophins (FSH/hCG 1:1 ratio) during in vitro maturation (IVM) of marmoset oocytes. Immature cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were retrieved from ovarian antral follicles of unprimed monkeys.

Luteotrophic effects of relaxin, chorionic gonadotrophin and FSH in common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus).

In early pregnant primates, relaxin (RLX) is highly upregulated within the corpus luteum (CL), suggesting that RLX may have an important role in the implantation of the blastocyst. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the local effects of RLX and gonadotrophins on the maintenance of the CL using an in vitro microdialysis system. CLs of common marmoset monkeys were collected by luteectomy during different stages of the luteal phase and early pregnancy.

A novel system of polymorphic and diverse NK cell receptors in primates.

There are two main classes of natural killer (NK) cell receptors in mammals, the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and the structurally unrelated killer cell lectin-like receptors (KLR). While KIR represent the most diverse group of NK receptors in all primates studied to date, including humans, apes, and Old and New World monkeys, KLR represent the functional equivalent in rodents. Here, we report a first digression from this rule in lemurs, where the KLR (CD94/NKG2) rather than KIR constitute the most diverse group of NK cell receptors.

Susceptibility to Simian immunodeficiency virus ex vivo predicts outcome of a prime-boost vaccine after SIVmac239 challenge.

Background: Efficacy assessment of AIDS vaccines relies both on preclinically challenging immunized monkeys with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) or monitoring infection rates in large human trials. Although conventional parameters of vaccine-induced immune responses do not completely predict outcome, existing methods for testing cellular immunity are sophisticated and difficult to establish in resource-limited settings.

Methods: We have used virus replication kinetics (VVR) on ConA-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from rhesus monkeys immunized with DNA replication-defective adenovirus vector expressing various SIV genes, as an ex vivo model, to mimic the effects of different immune effector functions on viral infection.

Seasonal and social influences on fecal androgen and glucocorticoid excretion in wild male long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis).

Whereas it is well known that in strictly seasonal breeding primates (income breeders), alike other vertebrates, males show pronounced changes in testicular and adrenal hormone levels concurrent with reproductive activity, hormonal patterns in males of non-strictly seasonal breeding primate species (capital breeders) and their relation to seasonal and social correlates remain largely unknown. In the present study, we examined the annual pattern of fecal androgen and glucocorticoid excretion and their relationship to environmental (rainfall, temperature) and social factors (number of cycling females, male aggression and copulation rates, male dominance rank) in a group of wild long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), a species with a moderate degree of reproductive seasonality and classified as capital breeder. The study was carried out in the Gunung Leuser National Park, North Sumatra, Indonesia over a period of ten months encompassing the conception and the birth season.

Group structure and physical characteristics of Simakobu monkeys (Simias concolor) on the Mentawai Island of Siberut, Indonesia.

We present data on group structure and physical characteristics from free-ranging Simias concolor. Mean group size (n = 3) was 8.7 +/- 1.

Better protective effects in rhesus macaques by combining systemic and mucosal application of a dual component vector vaccine after rectal SHIV89.6P challenge compared to systemic vaccination alone.

In this study we investigated the efficacy of a multigenic DNA prime/modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA)boost vaccine approach, followed by mucosal challenge with highly pathogenic simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) 89.6P, using different routes for vaccine delivery. After three times of DNA priming (SIVmac239, GagPol, and SHIV 89.

Time-course studies of 14-3-3 protein isoforms in cerebrospinal fluid and brain of primates after oral or intracerebral infection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent.

Experimental transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) is an animal model for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). The presence of 14-3-3 proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples indicates neuronal destruction and is therefore used as a clinical biomarker. However, time-course studies using 14-3-3 proteins have not been performed until now in simian vCJD.

Atraumatic oral spray immunization with replication-deficient viral vector vaccines.

The development of needle-free vaccines is one of the recently defined "grand challenges in global health" (H. Varmus, R. Klausner, R.

Immunogenicity of a DNA prime and recombinant adenovirus boost regime significantly varies between rhesus macaques of Chinese and Indian origins.

Background: Due to an ever increasing shortage of rhesus macaques of Indian origin (InR) that have been generally used for preclinical AIDS vaccine trials in non-human primates, demand is rising for Chinese rhesus macaques (ChR). However, the immunogenicity of an AIDS vaccine candidate has not been compared in parallel in both rhesus macaque subspecies.

Methods: ChR and InR were immunized with SIV/HIV DNA and adenovirus vaccine and their immune responses to SIV and HIV evaluated.

Female sexual behavior and sexual swelling size as potential cues for males to discern the female fertile phase in free-ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) of Gibraltar.

Although female catarrhine primates show cyclic changes in sexual behavior and sexual swellings, the value of these sexual signals in providing information to males about timing of the fertile phase is largely unclear. Recently, we have shown that in Barbary macaques, males receive information from females which enables them to discern the fertile phase and to focus their reproductive effort accordingly. Here, we investigate the nature of the cues being used by examining female sexual behavior and the size of sexual swelling as potential indicators of the fertile phase.

Life history traits and parental care in Lepilemur ruficaudatus.

In this study we investigated the importance of biparental care for the evolution and/or maintenance of pair-living in red-tailed sportive lemurs (Lepilemur ruficaudatus), a nocturnal folivorous lemur. Between 2000 and 2005, we collected data on life history traits from a total of 14 radio-collared pairs of adults and their offspring in Kirindy forest, western Madagascar. Predation rate varied between years with a minimum of 0% and a maximum of 40% per year.

Female ovarian cycle phase affects the timing of male sexual activity in free-ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) of Gibraltar.

Although all macaques have a multimale multifemale mating system, the degree of promiscuity shown by the Barbary macaque is considered to be extreme in terms of both mating frequency and number of mating partners. How mating activity is distributed throughout the female menstrual cycle and whether or not copulations are concentrated around the fertile phase as in other members of the genus is, however, not known. To examine this, we collected data on rates of copulation throughout 29 ovarian cycles from 13 free-ranging females of the Gibraltar Barbary macaque population and related them to the time of ovulation and the female fertile phase as determined from fecal hormone analysis.