Multiple recombinational events in primate immunoglobulin epsilon and alpha genes suggest closer relationship of humans to chimpanzees than to gorillas.

Immunoglobulin epsilon and alpha genes of chimpanzee and gorilla were isolated and their structures were compared with their human counterparts. Multiple deletions and duplications seem to have happened in both genes during hominoid evolution; the chimpanzee had deleted the entire C epsilon 2 gene after its divergence. In addition, the length of the C alpha 1 hinge region of gorilla is distinct from those of chimpanzee and humans. Structural homology of the epsilon and alpha genes suggests that humans are evolutionarily closer to chimpanzees than to gorillas.