More cool science
New light shed on chimp genome
By Becky McCall
A comparison of the chimp and human genomes casts new light on why the two species are so different despite having very similar genetic code.
Scientists have long speculated over what makes humans so different from their closest relatives, the apes.
One of the leading scientists on the project says the answer lies in the process that orchestrates the genes as the chimpanzee is developing.
The human and chimpanzee genomes differ by just 1.2% between the coding genes.
Professor Svante Paabo, from the Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany, is investigating which genes are present and the manner in which they are expressed.
Brain scan
In particular, he believes the key lies in the degree to which they are expressed in each species.
"It's about the extent to which genes are turned on, where and when in the brain.
"What we have now done is systematically looked at gene activity in the brain of chimpanzees, humans, orang-utans and macaques and when we compare them the surprising finding is that we actually find quite a lot of differences.
"And in any particular part of the brain about 10% of our gene activity differs from those of chimpanzees," said Dr Paabo.
The key to the distinction between the two species could lie in the functional importance of different levels of gene expression.
By mathematically modelling the changes seen in gene expression between the two species, Paabo hopes to identify those genes which could have been acted on by natural selection more strongly than others.
