The Chimp Brain

THE CHIMP BRAIN and that 1% --- --- - -- Observed in the wild and tested in captivity, chimpanzees invite comparison with humans, their close relatives. They bare a close family resemblance that fascinates scientists and us. More recent examination shows that despite profound differences in the two species, just a 1.23 percent difference in their genes separates Homo sapiens from chimps or Pan troglodytes. The genomic analysts found evidence of positive selection in genes involved in olfaction, or the ability to sense and process information about Differences inamino acid metabolism also seemto affect chimps and humans abilityto digest dietary protein, dating back to when we began eating more meat. INSERT DIAGRAM OF DNA SPLITTING HERE -odours: strongly present in both humans and chimps alfa tectorin causes deafness in humans - if this gene is absent Studies have found that hundreds of genes showing a Those genes are involved in the sense of smell, in digestion, in Long bone growth, in hairiness and especially hearing. pattern of sequence change consistent with adaptive evolution occuring in our ancestors. Mutations of alpha Important for finding food and mates tectorin result in poor frquency response of the ear making it hard to interoret speech Diseases and the Ape after following 94 wild chimps in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania for Humans appear to have lost a functional caspase-12 gene, which in other primates codes for an enzyme that may protect against Alzheimer's disease. The parasite responsible for 85 percent of human malaria infections and nearly a ll of nine years, Beatrice Hahn, proved that SIVcpz, the virus that jumped from chimps to humans as HIV-1, can and the deaths - co-evolved with humans as our species came from apelike predecessors some 5 million years ago. does cause an AIDS-like illness. ralciparum Caspase-12