[Gene flow in macaques].

Mitochondrial DNA was purified from liver tissue of macaques with the method modified in our laboratory Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism among Macaca mulatta, M. cyclopis, M. fuscata and M. fascicularis were investigated by using restriction enzyme analysis. Combining the earlier study of protein electrophoresis, divergence time of the four species was estimated on the basis of mtDNA and protein genetic distance, and the result ranged from 1.8-3.2 and 0.4-1.5 Myr, respectively. Integrate information on fossil record, behavior and zoogeography of macaques, our results indicate that there existed long time gene flow among the ancestral populations of M. mulatta, M. cyclopis, M. fuscata and M. fascicularis, which slowed down divergence of nucleus genome. This may be the reason why there were great differences between the estimated divergence times based on mtDNA and protein genetic distance. M. fascicularis may dispersed earliest among the four species. There also existed gene flow between species even after M. fascicularis, M. fuscata and M. cyclopis had been isolated on their habitat islands.