In 2006, Texas Biomed researchers published a genetic linkage map for the rhesus monkey. In 1999, Texas Biomed researchers published the baboon gene map, the first genetic linkage of a nonhuman primate.

These important research tools are used to find genes that influence susceptibility to common complex diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, obesity and diabetes, and a wide variety of other ailments.

This linkage map provided new comparative information concerning locus order and interlocus distances in humans and rhesus monkeys. The map facilitated whole-genome linkage screens to locate quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that influence individual variation in phenotypic traits related to basic primate anatomy, physiology, and behavior, as well as QTLs relevant to risk factors for human disease.