Figures
Following our own path.
Chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution and adaptations in the human line of rapidly evolving gene families. In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Abi-Rached et al. performed an extensive comparison of the genomics, population biology, and immunology of human and chimpanzee variable receptor–ligand interactions governing Natural Killer cell functions in immune defense and reproduction. These comparisons reveal dramatic qualitative differences between the human and chimpanzee systems, which predominantly derive from adaptations on the human line in response to selective pressures placed on human Natural Killer cells by the competing needs of defense and reproduction.
Image Credit: Emily Wroblewski (Stanford University)
Citation: (2010) PLoS Genetics Issue Image | Vol. 6(11) November 2010. PLoS Genet 6(11): ev06.i11. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pgen.v06.i11
Published: November 24, 2010
Copyright: © 2010 Abi-Rached et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution and adaptations in the human line of rapidly evolving gene families. In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Abi-Rached et al. performed an extensive comparison of the genomics, population biology, and immunology of human and chimpanzee variable receptor–ligand interactions governing Natural Killer cell functions in immune defense and reproduction. These comparisons reveal dramatic qualitative differences between the human and chimpanzee systems, which predominantly derive from adaptations on the human line in response to selective pressures placed on human Natural Killer cells by the competing needs of defense and reproduction.
Image Credit: Emily Wroblewski (Stanford University)