Disease relevance of Hominidae

• In order to determine whether modern humans and fossil hominids follow these trends, the cranial base angle (measure of basicranial flexion), angle of facial kyphosis, and angle of orbital axis orientation were measured from computed tomography (CT) scans of fossil hominids (Sts 5, MLD 37/38, OH9, Kabwe) and lateral radiographs of 99 extant humans [1].

High impact information on Hominidae

• Geology and palaeontology of the Upper Miocene Toros-Menalla hominid locality, Chad [2].
• The Middle Awash study area of Ethiopia's Afar rift has yielded abundant vertebrate fossils (approximately 10,000), including several hominid taxa [3].
• Here we show that these earliest hominids derive from relatively wet and wooded environments that were modulated by tectonic, volcanic, climatic and geomorphic processes [3].
• ESR ages for Krapina hominids [4].
• Ten years ago a well-preserved skull of an early form of Homo sapiens was unearthed from Pleistocene cave deposits at the Jinniushan site in China. Here we present electron-spin resonance (ESR) and uranium-series dates from five fossil animal teeth collected from the hominid locality [5].

Biological context of Hominidae

• Here, we show that COX8H is transcribed in most primate clades, but its expression is absent in catarrhines, that is, in Old World monkeys and hominids (apes, including humans), having become a pseudogene in the stem of the catarrhines [6].
• Although features of the dentition figure prominently in discussions of early hominid phylogeny, remarkably little is known of the developmental basis of the variations in occlusal morphology and dental proportions that are observed among taxa [7].
• Full-length HERV-K gag genes in hominids displayed a 96-bp deletion compared to those in lower Old World primates [8].
• However, carbon isotope analyses of tooth enamel from three species of early South African hominids have shown that there was a significant but not dominant contribution of C4 biomass in their diets [9].
• This implies that the hair keratin phenotype of hominids prior to this date, and after the Pan-Homo divergence some 5.5 million years ago, could have been identical to that of the great apes [10].

Anatomical context of Hominidae

• The humeral diaphysis indicates a gradual reduction in habitual load levels from Eurasian late archaic, to Early Upper Paleolithic early modern, to Middle Upper Paleolithic early modern hominids, with the Levantine Middle Paleolithic early modern humans being a gracile anomalous outlier [11].
• Relationship between the mandibular condyle and the occlusal plane during hominid evolution: some of its effects on jaw mechanics [12].
• Accurate measurements of the absolute and relative size of individual cusps, the arrangement of the primary fissure system and the shape of coronal cross sections of the tooth crown have been used to investigate the pattern of variation in Plio-Pleistocene hominid mandibular molar teeth [13].
• The hominid dental anatomy (occlusal enamel thickness, absolute and relative size of the first and second lower molar crowns, and premolar crown and radicular anatomy) indicates attribution to Ardipithecus ramidus [14].
• The microcephalic brain has a volume comparable to that of early hominids, raising the possibility that some MCPH genes may have been evolutionary targets in the expansion of the cerebral cortex in mammals and especially primates [15].

Associations of Hominidae with chemical compounds

• The reversal spans the hominid finds at stratigraphic level TD6 (the Aurora stratum), and these hominid fossils are therefore the oldest in southern Europe [16].
• Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear CO1 and CO2 sequences revealed that they diverged from modern human mtDNAs early in hominid evolution about 770,000 years before present [17].
• Serum levels of uric acid (UA), an inhibitor of peroxynitrite- (ONOO-) related chemical reactions, became elevated approximately 30 million years ago in hominid evolution [18].
• Africa's wild C4 plant foods and possible early hominid diets [9].
• The paleontological, archaeological, and experimental data suggest that a well-developed flexor pollicis longus muscle functioned initially in the hominid lineage to stabilize the terminal pollical phalanx against loads applied to the thumb's apical pad during the frequent and forceful use of unmodified stones as tools [19].

Gene context of Hominidae

• Within the Cebidae, Cercopithecidae, and Pongidae (including humans), CCR5 nucleotide similarities were 95.2 to 97.4, 98.0 to 99.5, and 98.3 to 99.3%, respectively [20].
• Using comparative analysis of human, chimpanzee, and mouse protein sequences, we identified two genes (PRM2 and FOXP2) with significantly enhanced evolutionary rates in the hominid lineage [21].
• BAGE genes generated by juxtacentromeric reshuffling in the Hominidae lineage are under selective pressure [22].
• We propose that in earlier hominids and humans, CYP2D6 had increasingly become a vestigial characteristic unconstrained by dietary stressors, as a result of cultural survival strategies [23].
• Support for this hypothesis stems from associations between mutations in ASPM and primary microcephaly, and from the rapid evolution of ASPM during recent hominid evolution [24].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Hominidae

• Protamine P1 genes have been sequenced by PCR amplification and direct DNA sequencing from 9 primates representing 5 major families, Cebidae (new world monkeys), Cercopithecidae (old world monkeys), Hylobatidae (gibbons), Pongidae (gorilla, orangutan, and chimpanzee), and Hominidae (human) [25].
• The stage is set for this intolerance by chronic volume constriction, which leads to a requirement for increased basal peripheral vasoconstrictor tone to maintain blood pressure and allow for continued perfusion of the upright hominid head [26].

References