Monkey business
Scientists have deciphered the DNA of the chimpanzee, the closest living relative of humankind, and made comprehensive comparisons with the human genetic blueprint.
It’s a step toward finding a biological answer to a key question: What makes us human?
There are no firm answers yet about how humans picked up key traits such as walking upright and developing complex language. But the work has produced a long list of DNA differences with the chimp and some hints about which ones might be crucial. “It’s a huge deal,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. “We now have the instruction book of our closest relative.”
You’re safe, man
The human Y chromosome–the DNA chunk that makes a man a man –has lost so many genes over evolutionary time that some scientists suspect it might disappear in 10 million years. But a new study says it’ll stick around.
Researchers found no sign of gene loss over the past 6 million years, suggesting the chromosome is “doing a pretty good job of maintaining itself,” said researcher David Page of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass.
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Compiled from news services and edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Scott Kleinberg (skleinberg@tribune.com)
