Immunoglobulin epitopes in primates

Non-human primate sera were investigated for the presence of various human immunoglobulin epitopes including allotypes of kappa-, gamma 1-, gamma 2-, gamma 3- and alpha 2-chains, isotypes of kappa-, gamma 1-, gamma 2-, gamma 3-, gamma 4-, alpha 1-, alpha 2- and mu-chains and iso-allotypes. The non-human primate sera comprised representatives of several species of apes, Old World Monkeys, New World monkeys and prosimians. It is concluded that non-human primate immunoglobulins have many structural similarities with those of human IgM, IgA and IgG. The extent of these similarities parallels the taxonomic classification.