Our closest living relative after the chimpanzee, gorilla, is more like humans than we thought. This according to an international research team for the first time mapped the entire genome of a gorilla. Among other things, in terms of hearing proved to gorillas more like us than chimpanzees.
Previously, we have been able to compare, for example, humans and chimpanzees, but the gorilla - which is quite closely related to both humans and chimpanzees - is yet another reference point that is very important to have in order to understand what is unique to humans and what might absent in the other, says Lars Feuk, researchers at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, who read the study.
We're still best friends with the chimps, but the expected relationship between the species differ in some of the genes - that appeared larger than genetics researchers believed. For example, in the hearing, man is more like gorillas than chimpanzees. We know from before that the human ear does resemble gorilla's more than the chimpanzee, but now I understand also how the genes behind this look.
By studying our relatives monkey genes, we can better understand human diseases. When mapped genes of other human-like monkeys, it has been proved that the healthy monkeys can carry genes which cause diseases in humans.
- Many genes can give rise to deafness in humans and many of them we do not understand really why people become deaf. To compare with the gorillas in this case can do that we can better understand what genes do and what goes wrong, so I think it is very important to do this type of research, says Lars Feuk.
Referens: Aylwyn Scally m fl: "Insights into hominid evolution from the gorilla genome sequence". Nature 2012-03-08. doi:10.1038/nature10842
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