Molecular evolution of the urate oxidase-encoding gene in hominoid primates: nonsense mutations.

Nucleotide sequences of portions of second and fifth exons of urate oxidase encoding gene (UOX) of chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, rhesus monkey and squirrel monkey obtained following amplification by polymerase chain reaction have been compared with corresponding sequences of human, baboon and rat UOX. Two or more nonsense mutations are found in the coding regions of this UOX gene thus far analyzed in human, chimpanzee, gorilla and orangutan, but not in the baboon, rhesus monkey and squirrel monkey. Of these nonsense mutations, the stop codon at amino acid position 33 is constant in the human and the three great apes suggesting that this may be the original mutation responsible for the inactivation of the UOX gene during hominoid evolution.