[ot?] Humans, chimps share 96% of DNA
- From: pluto <pluto@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 03 Sep 2005 06:55:00 +0800
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-09/02/content_474465.htm
Humans, chimps share 96% of DNA
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-09-02 05:39
Humans and chimpanzees share "perfect identity" in 96 per cent of their DNA
sequence, an international team of scientists reports yesterday.
Their findings, a landmark in the scientific study of humans and great
apes, are drawn from the completion of the full genome sequence of a
chimpanzee.
Clint, a 24-year-old male who died of heart failure last year at a research
centre in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, now lives on in the world's
databases as the fourth mammal after humans, mice and rats to yield a full
genetic blueprint.
The research findings could offer a new way of understanding human biology,
and underline once again the close kinship between Pan troglodytes, the
larger species of chimpanzee, and Homo sapiens.
It also throws new light on the tiny differences that set humankind on a
different evolutionary path.
"As our closest living evolutionary relatives, chimpanzees are especially
suited to teach us about ourselves," said Robert Waterston of the
University of Washington in Seattle, a leading member of the research team.
"We still do not have in our hands the answer to a most fundamental
question: what makes us human? But this genomic comparison dramatically
narrows the search for the key biological differences between the species."
Scientists have only begun to sample the richness of the genetic
information now at their disposal. Comparison between human and ape DNA
reveals that some human and ape genes evolved very swiftly, especially
those linked to the perception of sound, the transmission of nerve signals
and the production of sperm.
First fossils of chimps discovered
As scientists find out chimpanzees are close relatives of humans, the first
fossils from a chimpanzee have been discovered in East Africa, filling one
of the biggest gaps in the evolutionary record.
While remains of our human ancestors have been found around the world,
scientists had not identified a single fossil example of humanity's closest
remaining relative.
Three teeth discovered in Rift Valley, Kenya, have been confirmed as
belonging to a chimp that lived approximately half a million years ago.
Professor Nina Jablonski, of the California Academy of Sciences, led the
research, which is reported in the magazine Nature. She had been invited to
a dig by Sally McBrearty, of the University of Connecticut. The discovery
promises to overturn the view that humans and chimps rarely co-existed
since they diverged from a common ancestor five to 8 million years ago.
(China Daily 09/02/2005 page7)
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[pn: so it is NORMAL to "monkey" around ;-) ]
cheers
pluto
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