Evolution of type C viral genes: evidence for an Asian origin of man

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Abstract
Old World monkeys and apes, including man, possess, as a normal component of their cellular DNA, gene sequences (virogenes) related to the RNA of a virus isolated from baboons. A comparison of the viral gene sequences and the other cellular sequences distinguishes those Old World monkeys and apes that evolved in Africa from those that evolved in Asia. Among the apes, only gorilla and chimpanzee seem by these criteria to be African, whereas gibbon, orangutan and man are identified as Asian, leading to the conclusion that most of man''s evolution occurred outside Africa. Nucleic acid homology and thermal stability between baboon cellular DNA and the DNA from various primate species [Papio spp., Theropithecus gelada, Mandrillus sphinx, Cynopithecus niger, Macaca spp., Cercocebus spp., Cercopithecus spp., Erythrocebus patas, Colobus guereza, Presbytis obscurus, Hylobates spp., Symphalangus syndactylus, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Homo sapiens, Lagothrix spp., Cebus spp. and Alouatta spp.] are tabulated.