Serum dopamine β-hydroxylase activity in non-human primates: phylogenetic and genetic implications

1. Serum dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) activity is one to two orders of magnitude higher in man than in any other species previously studied. The high levels of human serum DBH are associated with the inherited allele DBH^H. 2. DBH activity was measured in serum from gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons, rhesus monkeys and squirrel monkeys in an attempt to determine how recently in the course of evolution the allele DBH^H had originated. 3. Of the non-human primates tested, only gorillas had high levels of serum DBH activity comparable to those found in man. 4. The genetic polymorphism responsible for elevated serum DBH in man is probably of very recent evolutionary origin.