April 20/07
They may all be black and hairy and they may all eat and act in much the same way, but chimpanzees from different parts of Africa are genetically more diverse than all of humanity, researchers reported on Friday
Experts have long marveled that older ideas of race are not reflected in human DNA.
Genetic diversity is more pronounced within population groups than between them, with only a few gene differences accounting for the wide variations seen in eye, skin and hair color across humanity. So animals all about the same size and color and showing few behavioral differences must be even more genetically identical, right?
Wrong, says Molly Przeworski, assistant professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago.Her team looked at the DNA of the three designated populations of chimpanzees in Africa -- the eastern, western and central populations, designated by some researchers as sub-species of the chimpanzee.
They found that a western african chimpanzee has more differences, genetically, from an eastern african chimp than any one human being has from another.
It is the first genetic confirmation that they are distinct populations.
Millions of years ago in Africa, ancient remains indicate that several species of pre-humans emerged and lived perhaps side-by-side. Chimpanzees, the closest genetic living relative to human beings, may be undergoing changes similar to those that drove human evolution.
Researchers say they estimate that bonobos, which live south of the Congo River, split off from the ancestors of modern chimpanzees about 800,000 years ago.
Western chimps appear to have separated from central and eastern chimpanzees about 500,000 years ago and central and eastern chimps would have divided from one another about 250,000 years ago
One major barrier between the populations is the Congo River. "Chimps don't swim," Becquet said. "For them, water provides a very effective border."
It means we have to protect three separate habitats, all threatened, instead of just one," Przeworski said.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=gene-study-shows-chimps-m&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters--------------------
"You will never find a real Human being - even in a mirror." .....Mike Kremer.
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