Natural TWIST protein variants in a panel of eleven non-human primates: possible implications of TWIST gene-tree for primate species tree.

The twist gene is implied in head morphogenesis, as human patients heterozygous at TWIST and heterozygous M-twist mutant mice present similar cranial-facial abnormalities. M-twist and TWIST are respectively unique genes, coding for a B-HLH transcription factor. We identified twist coding sequences from 11 species representing 7 families of primates, report their conservation and genus-specific amino acid substitutions, and present a tentative gene-tree of these sequences. Amino acid changes result in natural Twist variants, which might contribute to generating distinct head morphologies in species. These data suggest twist as a molecular marker, which could be used to refine controversial classification.