Chimp gene map on the net
The first gene map of our closest relative, the chimpanzee, is drafted and on the internet for anyone to look at, US researchers said on Wednesday.
They have also lined up the genome map of the chimp with the completed map of humans to make comparisons easier.
“Chimpanzees are the most closely related species to humans,” the National Human Genome Research Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement in Washington.
“Consequently, comparative analysis of the human and chimp genomes can reveal unique types of information impossible to obtain from comparing the human genome with the genomes of other animals.”
Mapping
Scientists have also mapped the gene collections of animals ranging from bacteria to mice.
Many of the same people who made the public map of the human genome did the chimpanzee, scientifically known as Pan troglodytes.
They include Eric Lander of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Richard Wilson of the Washington
University School of Medicine, in Saint Louis.
“An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington University and the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard University, is currently comparing the chimp and human genome sequences and plans to publish results of its analysis in the next several months,” the institute said.