The code of the animal closest to us will highlight our features * changes suggest how our lifestyle is reflected in our genes
Scientists on Wednesday (Dec. 10) released a draft version of the genetic sequence of our closest relative, the chimpanzee Pan troglodytes.
Scientists hope that the differences between the chimpanzee genome and the human genome will reveal the answer to the question of what makes us human. The difference may lie, for example, in genes that regulate the development of the brain and language, or in genes that are responsible for diseases specific to humans, such as Alzheimer's, AIDS and malaria.
The team of scientists has already sequenced the chimpanzee sequence, which is about 90% complete, along with the human sequence and entered it into a public database, so that other researchers can use it as well. It is estimated that the chimpanzee sequence is 99% identical to the human sequence in at least some areas. The complete code is about the size of the human genome: about three billion bases.
A team of scientists led by Eric Lander from the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Richard Wilson from the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Lewis, Missouri, took it upon himself to decipher the chimpanzee sequence. It took the group of scientists only a year to create the draft.
More detailed comparisons between the chimpanzee genome and the human genome will be published in the coming months, says Wilson. "This is a nice sneak peek, but there's more to come," he promises.
