'Junk DNA' defines differences between humans and chimps
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - 12:00
in Biology & Nature
For years, scientists believed the vast phenotypic differences between humans and chimpanzees would be easily explained the two species must have significantly different genetic makeups. However, when their genomes were later sequenced, researchers were surprised to learn that the DNA sequences of human and chimpanzee genes are nearly identical. What then is responsible for the many morphological and behavioral differences between the two species? Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have now determined that the insertion and deletion of large pieces of DNA near genes are highly variable between humans and chimpanzees and may account for major differences between the two species.