Common Chimpanzee

The Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is a great ape. Colloquially, it is often called the chimpanzee (or simply "chimp"), though technically this term refers to both species in the genus Pan: the Common Chimpanzee and the closely-related Bonobo, or Pygmy Chimpanzee.

Chimpanzee Genome Project

Human and Common Chimpanzee DNA is very similar. After the completion of the Human genome project, a Common Chimpanzee Genome Project was initiated. In December of 2003, a preliminary analysis of 7600 genes shared between the two genomes confirmed that certain genes such as the forkhead-box P2 transcription factor, which is involved in speech development, have undergone rapid evolution in the human lineage. A draft version of the chimpanzee genome was published on September 1, 2005, in an article produced by the Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium{{ref|genome}}. The DNA sequence differences between humans and chimpanzees is about thirty-five million single-nucleotide changes, five million insertion/deletion events, and various chromosomal rearrangements. Typical human and chimp homologs of proteins differ in only an average of two amino acids. About 30 percent of all human proteins are identical in sequence to the corresponding chimp protein. Duplications of small parts of chromosomes have been the major source of differences between human and chimp genetic material, with about 2.7 percent of the genome now representing differences having been produced by gene duplications or deletions during approximately 6 million years since humans and chimps diverged from their common evolutionary ancestor. Results from the human and chimp genome analyses should help in understanding the genetic basis of some human diseases.

Related Topics:
Human - DNA - Human genome project - Chimpanzee Genome Project - December - 2003 - Transcription factor - September 1 - 2005 - Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium - Single-nucleotide - Insertion/deletion - Chromosomal - Rearrangements - Homolog - Protein - Amino acid

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