Did you mean: pan troglodytes
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PloS One 2024Wild chimpanzees consume a variety of plants to meet their dietary needs and maintain wellbeing. While some plants have obvious value, others are nutritionally poor...
Wild chimpanzees consume a variety of plants to meet their dietary needs and maintain wellbeing. While some plants have obvious value, others are nutritionally poor and/or contain bioactive toxins which make ingestion costly. In some cases, these nutrient-poor resources are speculated to be medicinal, thought to help individuals combat illness. In this study, we observed two habituated chimpanzee communities living in the Budongo Forest, Uganda, and collected 17 botanical samples associated with putative self-medication behaviors (e.g., bark feeding, dead wood eating, and pith-stripping) or events (e.g., when consumer had elevated parasite load, abnormal urinalysis, or injury). In total, we selected plant parts from 13 species (nine trees and four herbaceous plants). Three extracts of different polarities were produced from each sample using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol/water (9/1, v/v) and introduced to antibacterial and anti-inflammatory in vitro models. Extracts were evaluated for growth inhibition against a panel of multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of bacteria, including ESKAPE strains and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition activity. Pharmacological results suggest that Budongo chimpanzees consume several species with potent medicinal properties. In the antibacterial library screen, 45 out of 53 extracts (88%) exhibited ≥40% inhibition at a concentration of 256 μg/mL. Of these active extracts, 41 (91%) showed activity at ≤256μg/mL in subsequent dose-response antibacterial experiments. The strongest antibacterial activity was achieved by the n-hexane extract of Alstonia boonei dead wood against Staphylococcus aureus (IC50: 16 μg/mL; MIC: 32 μg/mL) and Enterococcus faecium (IC50: 16 μg/mL; MIC: >256 μg/mL) and by the methanol-water extract of Khaya anthotheca bark and resin against E. faecium (IC50: 16 μg/mL; MIC: 32 μg/mL) and pathogenic Escherichia coli (IC50: 16 μg/mL; MIC: 256 μg/mL). We observed ingestion of both these species by highly parasitized individuals. K. anthotheca bark and resin were also targeted by individuals with indicators of infection and injuries. All plant species negatively affected growth of E. coli. In the anti-inflammatory COX-2 inhibition library screen, 17 out of 51 tested extracts (33%) showed ≥50% COX-2 inhibition at a concentration of 5 μg/mL. Several extracts also exhibited anti-inflammatory effects in COX-2 dose-response experiments. The K. anthotheca bark and resin methanol-water extract showed the most potent effects (IC50: 0.55 μg/mL), followed by the fern Christella parasitica methanol-water extract (IC50: 0.81 μg/mL). This fern species was consumed by an injured individual, a feeding behavior documented only once before in this population. These results, integrated with associated observations from eight months of behavioral data, provide further evidence for the presence of self-medicative resources in wild chimpanzee diets. This study addresses the challenge of distinguishing preventative medicinal food consumption from therapeutic self-medication by integrating pharmacological, observational, and health monitoring data-an essential interdisciplinary approach for advancing the field of zoopharmacognosy.
Topics: Animals; Pan troglodytes; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal; Uganda; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Diet; Behavior, Animal; Feeding Behavior
PubMed: 38900778
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305219 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Jun 2024Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are humans' closest living relatives, making them the most directly relevant comparison point for understanding human brain evolution....
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are humans' closest living relatives, making them the most directly relevant comparison point for understanding human brain evolution. Zeroing in on the differences in brain connectivity between humans and chimpanzees can provide key insights into the specific evolutionary changes that might have occured along the human lineage. However, conducting comparisons of brain connectivity between humans and chimpanzees remains challenging, as cross-species brain atlases established within the same framework are currently lacking. Without the availability of cross-species brain atlases, the region-wise connectivity patterns between humans and chimpanzees cannot be directly compared. To address this gap, we built the first Chimpanzee Brainnetome Atlas (ChimpBNA) by following a well-established connectivity-based parcellation framework. Leveraging this new resource, we found substantial divergence in connectivity patterns across most association cortices, notably in the lateral temporal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex between the two species. Intriguingly, these patterns significantly deviate from the patterns of cortical expansion observed in humans compared to chimpanzees. Additionally, we identified regions displaying connectional asymmetries that differed between species, likely resulting from evolutionary divergence. Genes associated with these divergent connectivities were found to be enriched in cell types crucial for cortical projection circuits and synapse formation. These genes exhibited more pronounced differences in expression patterns in regions with higher connectivity divergence, suggesting a potential foundation for brain connectivity evolution. Therefore, our study not only provides a fine-scale brain atlas of chimpanzees but also highlights the connectivity divergence between humans and chimpanzees in a more rigorous and comparative manner and suggests potential genetic correlates for the observed divergence in brain connectivity patterns between the two species. This can help us better understand the origins and development of uniquely human cognitive capabilities.
PubMed: 38895242
DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.03.597252 -
Communications Biology Jun 2024Although the gross morphology of the heart is conserved across mammals, subtle interspecific variations exist in the cardiac phenotype, which may reflect evolutionary...
Although the gross morphology of the heart is conserved across mammals, subtle interspecific variations exist in the cardiac phenotype, which may reflect evolutionary divergence among closely-related species. Here, we compare the left ventricle (LV) across all extant members of the Hominidae taxon, using 2D echocardiography, to gain insight into the evolution of the human heart. We present compelling evidence that the human LV has diverged away from a more trabeculated phenotype present in all other great apes, towards a ventricular wall with proportionally greater compact myocardium, which was corroborated by post-mortem chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) hearts. Speckle-tracking echocardiographic analyses identified a negative curvilinear relationship between the degree of trabeculation and LV systolic twist, revealing lower rotational mechanics in the trabeculated non-human great ape LV. This divergent evolution of the human heart may have facilitated the augmentation of cardiac output to support the metabolic and thermoregulatory demands of the human ecological niche.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Heart Ventricles; Hominidae; Phenotype; Echocardiography; Biological Evolution; Pan troglodytes; Male; Female
PubMed: 38877299
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06280-9 -
Biology Letters Jun 2024When chimpanzees search for hidden food, do they realize that their guesses may not be correct? We applied a post-decision wagering paradigm to a simple two-cup search...
When chimpanzees search for hidden food, do they realize that their guesses may not be correct? We applied a post-decision wagering paradigm to a simple two-cup search task, varying whether we gave participants visual access to the baiting and then asking after they had chosen one of the cups whether they would prefer a smaller but certain reward instead of their original choice (experiment 1). Results showed that chimpanzees were more likely to accept the smaller reward in occluded than visible conditions. Experiment 2 found the same effect when we blocked visual access but manipulated the number of hiding locations for the food piece, showing that the effect is not owing to representation type. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that when given information about the contents of the unchosen cup, chimpanzees were able to flexibly update their choice behaviour accordingly. These results suggest that language is not a pre-requisite to solving the disjunctive syllogism and provides a valuable contribution to the debate on logical reasoning in non-human animals.
Topics: Animals; Pan troglodytes; Male; Female; Choice Behavior; Reward
PubMed: 38863345
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0051 -
Nature Methods Jun 2024Long-standing questions about human brain evolution may only be resolved through comparisons with close living evolutionary relatives, such as chimpanzees. This applies...
Long-standing questions about human brain evolution may only be resolved through comparisons with close living evolutionary relatives, such as chimpanzees. This applies in particular to structural white matter (WM) connectivity, which continuously expanded throughout evolution. However, due to legal restrictions on chimpanzee research, neuroscience research currently relies largely on data with limited detail or on comparisons with evolutionarily distant monkeys. Here, we present a detailed magnetic resonance imaging resource to study structural WM connectivity in the chimpanzee. This open-access resource contains (1) WM reconstructions of a postmortem chimpanzee brain, using the highest-quality diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data yet acquired from great apes; (2) an optimized and validated method for high-quality fiber orientation reconstructions; and (3) major fiber tract segmentations for cross-species morphological comparisons. This dataset enabled us to identify phylogenetically relevant details of the chimpanzee connectome, and we anticipate that it will substantially contribute to understanding human brain evolution.
Topics: Pan troglodytes; Animals; White Matter; Brain; Connectome; Male; Neural Pathways; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Female; Brain Mapping
PubMed: 38831210
DOI: 10.1038/s41592-024-02270-1 -
International Journal For Parasitology.... Aug 2024Intestinal protozoa, which can be asymptomatic or cause diarrhea, dysentery and even death, are among the main agents that affect nonhuman primates (NHPs) kept under...
Intestinal protozoa, which can be asymptomatic or cause diarrhea, dysentery and even death, are among the main agents that affect nonhuman primates (NHPs) kept under human care. Nevertheless, information on the molecular and morphometric profiles of parabasilids in the Neotropics is still scarce. In this context, the objective of this study was to isolate the Parabasalia protozoa detected in the feces of NHPs and their keepers in Pavlova and TYSGM9 media and to characterize the isolates by molecular biology and morphometry. Fecal samples from NHPs from five Brazilian institutions were analyzed. Direct examination was performed immediately after obtaining the samples. A total of 511 fecal samples from NHPs were collected, and 10.6% contained parabasilids. Regarding the handlers, of the 74 samples analyzed, three were positive. In vitro-generated parabasilid isolates were successfully obtained from all positive samples, as identified via microscopy. Isolates of the parasite were obtained both from New World NHPs, including the genera , , , , , , and and from the Old World primate . Forty-nine NHP isolates were molecularly identified: (16), (14), (13) and (6). The human isolates were identified as sp. (2) and (1). Visualization and morphometric analysis revealed trophozoites with piriform or rounded shapes that presented variable measurements. The isolates previously characterized as had up to five free flagella, while and sp. had up to four free flagella, and had a maximum of three free flagella. These morphometric characteristics corroborated the molecular identification. In general, a variety of parabasilids were observed to infect NHPs, and was isolated from biological samples from both NHPs and their keepers, a finding that reinforces the susceptibility of these hosts to infections by parabasilids in Brazil.
PubMed: 38827824
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2024.100946 -
Frontiers in Genetics 2024Alport Syndrome (AS) is a genetic kidney disorder characterized by progressive hearing loss and atypical eye symptoms, resulting in a poor prognosis and lack of...
Alport Syndrome (AS) is a genetic kidney disorder characterized by progressive hearing loss and atypical eye symptoms, resulting in a poor prognosis and lack of effective targeted therapy. The primary mode of inheritance is X-linked dominant (XLAS) due to variants in the gene. This study revealed a previously unidentified alternative form of the gene, namely, the c.4822-10T>C variant, which was confirmed through experiments. To investigate the impact of a splicing variant on mRNA production, an minigene splicing assay was utilized. Additionally, molecular dynamics was employed to predict the ability of α5(IV) to form a triple helix. Results from the experiment revealed that the wild-type (WT) plasmid produced two distinct mRNA products simultaneously. Sequence analysis using the BLAST database revealed a 173-bp deletion in the mRNA sequence of the first product, indicating a potential similarity to the XM_016942897.2 transcript of . The second mRNA product of the WT plasmid contained the full sequence of exons 51, 52, and 53, as anticipated. Conversely, the mutant (MT) plasmid generated a single mRNA product with a 173-bp deletion in exon 52, leading to the identification of the mature mRNA expression as NM_033380.2: COL4A5: c.4822_4994del. In the context of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), the deletion c.4822_4994 results in the production of a truncated protein, p.His1608*, that terminates prematurely. This truncated protein may disrupt the secondary structure of α5(IV) and potentially cause an abnormal conformation of α345(IV). This study examines the relationship between the variable splicing pattern in the NM_033380.2 transcript of the gene in XLAS patients and the presence of the gene splice variant c.4822-10T>C. Our findings indicate that the c.4822-10T>C splice variant leads to activation of nonsense-mediated mRNA degradation (NMD) and reduced mRNA expression, resulting in inadequate synthesis of the corresponding proteins. This aligns with the patient's immunofluorescence results showing negative α5(IV) chain presence at the glomerular basement membrane, bursa, and tubular basement membrane, confirming the pathogenic nature of c.4822-10T>C.
PubMed: 38818038
DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1330525 -
Nature Jun 2024Apes possess two sex chromosomes-the male-specific Y chromosome and the X chromosome, which is present in both males and females. The Y chromosome is crucial for male... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Apes possess two sex chromosomes-the male-specific Y chromosome and the X chromosome, which is present in both males and females. The Y chromosome is crucial for male reproduction, with deletions being linked to infertility. The X chromosome is vital for reproduction and cognition. Variation in mating patterns and brain function among apes suggests corresponding differences in their sex chromosomes. However, owing to their repetitive nature and incomplete reference assemblies, ape sex chromosomes have been challenging to study. Here, using the methodology developed for the telomere-to-telomere (T2T) human genome, we produced gapless assemblies of the X and Y chromosomes for five great apes (bonobo (Pan paniscus), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) and Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)) and a lesser ape (the siamang gibbon (Symphalangus syndactylus)), and untangled the intricacies of their evolution. Compared with the X chromosomes, the ape Y chromosomes vary greatly in size and have low alignability and high levels of structural rearrangements-owing to the accumulation of lineage-specific ampliconic regions, palindromes, transposable elements and satellites. Many Y chromosome genes expand in multi-copy families and some evolve under purifying selection. Thus, the Y chromosome exhibits dynamic evolution, whereas the X chromosome is more stable. Mapping short-read sequencing data to these assemblies revealed diversity and selection patterns on sex chromosomes of more than 100 individual great apes. These reference assemblies are expected to inform human evolution and conservation genetics of non-human apes, all of which are endangered species.
Topics: Animals; Female; Male; Gorilla gorilla; Hominidae; Hylobatidae; Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; Phylogeny; Pongo abelii; Pongo pygmaeus; Telomere; X Chromosome; Y Chromosome; Evolution, Molecular; DNA Copy Number Variations; Humans; Endangered Species; Reference Standards
PubMed: 38811727
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07473-2 -
Scientific Data May 2024Human and non-human primates have strikingly similar genomes, but they strongly differ in many brain-based processes (e.g., behaviour and cognition). While the functions...
Human and non-human primates have strikingly similar genomes, but they strongly differ in many brain-based processes (e.g., behaviour and cognition). While the functions of protein-coding genes have been extensively studied, rather little is known about the role of non-coding RNAs such as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Here, we predicted lncRNAs and analysed their expression pattern across different brain regions of human and non-human primates (chimpanzee, gorilla, and gibbon). Our analysis identified shared orthologous and non-orthologous lncRNAs, showing striking differences in the genomic features. Differential expression analysis of the shared orthologous lncRNAs from humans and chimpanzees revealed distinct expression patterns in subcortical regions (striatum, hippocampus) and neocortical areas while retaining a homogeneous expression in the cerebellum. Co-expression analysis of lncRNAs and protein-coding genes revealed massive proportions of co-expressed pairs in neocortical regions of humans compared to chimpanzees. Network analysis of co-expressed pairs revealed the distinctive role of the hub-acting orthologous lncRNAs in a region- and species-specific manner. Overall, our study provides novel insight into lncRNA driven gene regulatory landscape, neural regulation, brain evolution, and constitutes a resource for primate's brain lncRNAs.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Brain; Gorilla gorilla; Hylobates; Pan troglodytes; Primates; RNA, Long Noncoding; Species Specificity
PubMed: 38806530
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03380-3 -
Scientific Reports May 2024Differences in the tool use of non-human primates and humans are subject of ongoing debate. In humans, representations of object functions underpin efficient tool use....
Differences in the tool use of non-human primates and humans are subject of ongoing debate. In humans, representations of object functions underpin efficient tool use. Yet, representations of object functions can lead to functional fixedness, which describes the fixation on a familiar tool function leading to less efficient problem solving when the problem requires using the tool for a new function. In the current study, we examined whether chimpanzees exhibit functional fixedness. After solving a problem with a tool, chimpanzees were less efficient in solving another problem which required using the same tool with a different function compared to a control group. This fixation effect was still apparent after a period of nine months and when chimpanzees had learned about the function of a tool by observation of a conspecific. These results suggest that functional fixedness in our closest living relatives likely exists and cast doubt on the notion that stable function representations are uniquely human.
Topics: Animals; Pan troglodytes; Male; Female; Problem Solving; Tool Use Behavior; Learning; Humans
PubMed: 38802445
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62685-w