Pinpointing the PRDM9-PRDM7 Gene Duplication Event During Primate Divergence

Studies on the function of in model systems and its evolution during vertebrate divergence shed light on the basic molecular mechanisms of hybrid sterility and its evolutionary consequences. However, information regarding -homolog, , whose origin is placed in the primate evolutionary tree, as well as information about the fast-evolving DNA-binding zinc finger array of strepsirrhine PRDM9 are scarce. Thus, we aimed to narrow down the date of the duplication event leading to the emergence of during primate evolution by comparing the phylogenetic tree reconstructions of representative primate samples of PRDM orthologs and paralogs. To confirm our paralogization pattern, database-deposited sequences were used to test the presence/absence patterns expected from the paralogization timing. In addition, we extended the existing phylogenetic tree of haplorrhine zinc fingers with their strepsirrhine counterparts. The inclusion of strepsirrhine zinc fingers completes the primate phylogeny. Moreover, the updated phylogeny of zinc fingers showed distinct clusters of strepsirrhine, tarsier, and anthropoid degenerated zinc fingers. Here, we show that emerged on the branch leading to the most recent common ancestor of catarrhines; therefore, its origin is more recent than previously expected. A more detailed character evolutionary study suggests that may have evolved differently in Cercopithecoidea as compared to Hominoidea: it lacks the first four exons in Old World monkeys orthologs and exon 10 in Papionini orthologs. Dating the origin of is essential for further studies investigating why Hominoidea representatives need another putative histone methyltransferase in the testis.