Much attention has been payed to tree shrews for their close phylogenetic relationship with primates,
small size, and short reproductive cycle. Especially, they are considered as excellent experiential animals for medicine
or/and disease research. A nucleotide sequence encoding neuropeptide Y(NPY) precursor has been cloned from the
cDNA library of
Tupaia belangeri chinensis
. Sequence alignment revealed that the sequence homology with primate
NPY was up to 96.9%. The phylogenetic analysis based on NPY precursor sequence revealed that the tree shrew has a
close relationship with primates.
