Chimpanzee Genome Sequenced

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Posted by michael on Thursday December 11, 2003 @01:32AM from the in-laws dept.

dharash writes "Nature reports 'Researchers today released a draft version of the genetic sequence of our closest relative, the chimpanzee Pan troglodytes..The differences between the chimp's genetic code and ours should reveal what makes us human...' Click here for the entire article."

51 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

I already figured it out!! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 01:37 · Score: 2, Funny

The differences between the chimp's genetic code and ours should reveal what makes us human...

Here's a hint! We're not monkeys!
1. Re:I already figured it out!! by Leffe · 2003-12-11 01:50 · Score: 1
  
  Oh yeah!?
  
  To be really sure, we'll have to ask Darwin on this one.
  
  I'll go prepare the time machine.
2. Re:I already figured it out!! by n1ywb · 2003-12-11 01:56 · Score: 1
  
  Oh but we ARE monkeys, and the sequence will reveal that.
  
  --
  -73, de n1ywb
  www.n1ywb.com
3. Re:I already figured it out!! by orthogonal · 2003-12-11 02:02 · Score: 1
  
  The differences between the chimp's genetic code and ours should reveal what makes us human...
  
  The difference is we have a complex of genes in the form of a monolith.
  
  But attempt no landing there.
  
  --
  Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
4. Re:I already figured it out!! by Cujo · 2003-12-11 02:24 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Here's a hint! We're not monkeys!
  
  Neither are chimps.
  
  We already know that we're closely related to chimps in the gross sense - now we can get a much more precise idea of where, when and how we diverged. Pretty exciting stuff, but they should keep digging for bones - there's nothing like ground truth.
  
  --
  Helium balloons want to be free.
5. Re:I already figured it out!! by greenhide · 2003-12-11 03:01 · Score: 1
  
  Pretty exciting stuff, but they should keep digging for bones - there's nothing like ground truth.
  
  No, there's nothing like ground bones!
  
  Oh yes! They're even better raw!
  
  --
  Karma: Chevy Kavalierma.
6. Re:I already figured it out!! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 04:26 · Score: 0
  
  Troy: [singing] I hate every ape I see,
  From chimpan-a to chimpan-zee.
  No, you'll never make a monkey out of me.
  
  Oh my God, I was wrong,
  It was Earth all along...
  
  You've finally made a monkey
  
  Apes: Yes, we've finally made a monkey
  Troy: Yes, you've finally made a monkey out of me!
  Apes: Yes, we've finally made a monkey out of you!
  
  Troy: I love you, Dr. Zaius!
7. Re:I already figured it out!! by jcenters · 2003-12-11 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  No, the real difference is that we don't throw fecal matter at each other.
  
  Hmm, come to think of it, Darl McBride must be a chimpanzee.
  
  --
  vi ~/.emacs
8. Re:I already figured it out!! by Directrix1 · 2003-12-11 08:16 · Score: 1
  
  Whatever, it will reveal that the only thing that differentiates us from monkeys is a certain gene called the soul gene :-P.
  
  --
  Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
9. Re:I already figured it out!! by *SpOoNdRiFt* · 2003-12-11 18:24 · Score: 1
  
  Since there is > 98% commonality between 'our' genes, I have read, and you can assume that there has been a baby borne between the two. There has been no documented proof, but you have to wonder...
10. Re:I already figured it out!! by Uma+Thurman · 2003-12-11 18:45 · Score: 1
  
  Don't you mean that Darl McBride must be a LIBERAL?
  
  --
  This is America, damnit. Speak Spanish!
11. Re:I already figured it out!! by 56ksucks · 2003-12-14 16:55 · Score: 1
  
  I quite agree
  
  --
  ---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
12. Re:I already figured it out!! by Conanymous+Award · 2003-12-15 01:29 · Score: 1
  
  Yep, we're not monkeys. We're apes.
Assuming... by kinnell · 2003-12-11 01:58 · Score: 3, Insightful

Assuming, of course, that the differences between the two genome sequences are greater than the difference between two animals in the same species.

--
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
1. Re:Assuming... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 03:05 · Score: 0
  
  That's true, but the inter-species difference here is much, much larger than the variation among humans or among chimps. That's been known for a couple of decades.
2. Re:Assuming... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 04:58 · Score: 0
  
  If you ever wrote software this would not surprise you in the least.
Great - this will be useful by wowbagger · 2003-12-11 02:13 · Score: 5, Funny

cd slashtroll
cvs rdiff -r chimp -r human genome | patch -p1 ./make

--
www.eFax.com are spammers
1. Re:Great - this will be useful by kmahan · 2003-12-11 04:03 · Score: 1
  
  Wonder what happens if you ignore whitespace differences...
  
  --
  Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
2. Re:Great - this will be useful by JDWTopGuy · 2003-12-11 12:24 · Score: 1
  
  I think this would be more useful:
  diff man woman
  I propose an easter egg be placed into diff so that if you type the above command (and you don't actually have files called man and woman) it prints: "diff: cannot perform miracle".
  
  --
  Ron Paul 2012
3. Re:Great - this will be useful by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 13:26 · Score: 0
  
  jibberish!
This could get dangerous by AtariAmarok · 2003-12-11 02:16 · Score: 1

Once you start monkeying with the chimp genome, it is only a matter of time before General Thade or Caesar comes along to pound the will of the Lawgiver into us.

--
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
1. Re:This could get dangerous by Joe+Tie. · 2003-12-11 05:35 · Score: 1
  
  I'm hoping for Professor Bobo myself.
  
  --
  Everything will be taken away from you.
2. Re:This could get dangerous by devilsadvoc8 · 2003-12-11 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe it will give us more insight into the makeup of a Moderator
  
  --
  B O R I N G
Great by Molina+the+Bofh · 2003-12-11 02:21 · Score: 2, Interesting

I am wondering how genetics is evolving. After fully understanding how genes work, the next step will be to simulate what each gene will do. After some time, an advanced computer will be able to grow virtual specimens given a genetic code. Like an advanced VMware..

As they're virtual, they don't need to really pee, sleep, or eat. . As they're virtual, their number is limited Imagine what you could do with a million of those virtual monkeys, seated in front of virtual typewriters, in an infinite ammount of time.

--

-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
1. Re:Great by Ashran · 2003-12-11 02:59 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  There is one fundamental problem in simulating the whole genome and see what it grows.
  For every atom you simulate you need like 10000 times the atoms to store the information about it.
  This means the physical space alone needed to store a full human in memory would be 10000 times bigger than the human :/
  
  Lets see if quantum computers can help us here, because right now we can only store ~1 bit per atom, and we'd need atleast a few bits to describe what kind of atom it is and a few more bits to describe their position, states, charges, relation to nearby atoms etc. Superpositions might help us here, giving us more than 1 bit per atom.
  
  This is just discussing the storage aspect, if that should be realtime you'd need a SHITLOAD of processors working on that.
  
  --
  
  Before you email me, remember: "There is no god!"
2. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 07:46 · Score: 0
  
  Is it just me... or did that translate as "Imagine a beowulf cluster of virtual monkeys?"
3. Re:Great by Ieshan · 2003-12-14 18:11 · Score: 1
  
  Would be an interesting idea for a distributed computing project, though. :)
Funded by Michael Jackson by AtariAmarok · 2003-12-11 02:24 · Score: 4, Funny

This research has been funded by Michael Jackson, after his recent trouble. If they can genetically modify "Bubbles" to look like the "Home Alone"-era MacCauley Culkin, Michael might be able to avoid future legal trouble.

--
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
1. Re:Funded by Michael Jackson by fireduck · 2003-12-11 04:36 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  totally offtopic, but...
  
  regarding Bubbles: When chimps get older they get aggressive and really can't be handled by people anymore (unless you're Steve Irwin or any other of those nuts on Animal Planet). Jackson gave up Bubbles a while back, and the chimp is currently living at a facility in the north end of the San Fernando Valley, along with Geoffrey the giraffe (of Toys R Us commercial fame).
  
  I had the quite unique experience of visiting this place last year, seeing where all the famous animal actors live. Bubbles was quite threatening, but the giraffe was loads of fun...
2. Re:Funded by Michael Jackson by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 08:36 · Score: 0
  
  Well, if you treat the adult chimp as a moderately retarded but ADULT human, you can still get on just fine with them - it's only when you try to "handle" an adult chimp like it's a child or a gormless farm animal at a petting zoo that you get your arm ripped off.
Should reveal what makes us human? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 03:32 · Score: 4, Insightful

I doubt this will even reveal what makes a chimp a chimp.

People expect too much from genome sequencing. This is a dead genome, not an expressive genome configured with epigenetic states in a runtime environment as would exist in a living cell. This is a good first step, but a genome sequence is barely a start and inferring high-level characteristics from such a sequence is ridiculous.
1. Re:Should reveal what makes us human? by Charles+Dart · 2003-12-11 04:48 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  The goal here I think is to be able to eliminate sections of the genome when looking for specific genes. For example if you are looking for the gene that causes chimps to grow coarse hair on their bodies you can eliminate all parts of the sequence that are identical to humans. (most humans I should say.)
2. Re:Should reveal what makes us human? by srn_test · 2003-12-11 10:35 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not a molecular biologist, but I don't think this is true.
  
  It's possible that we all have the gene for growing fur; it's just not switched on in human cells because of some other gene somewhere else, which may not be switched on because of some other gene...
  
  So we'd find some gene that eventually turns on fur, but may also make our arms grow longer and our brains shrink (well, smaller than most people's).
  
  Or it might be a simple expressive gene. It's not a sure thing, either way.
3. Re:Should reveal what makes us human? by Charles+Dart · 2003-12-11 11:43 · Score: 1
  
  Whether coarse hair is caused by a separate gene in chimps or humans and chimps both have it but it is suppressed by a different gene in humans is just the kind of thing that can now be learned with this data.
  
  Humans and chimps evolved from a common ancestor. The waters will be muddied by parallel mutations but it is a safe bet that the changes to the human genome that enabled the huge increase in cranial capacity will not be resident in chimp dna. Taking out all sequences shared by chimps and humans a researcher now only has to look at 1% to find those mechanisms. It won't be all the instructions to create a brain, just the instructions that make a brain human.
4. Re:Should reveal what makes us human? by maysonl · 2003-12-11 19:42 · Score: 1
  
  For example if you are looking for the gene that causes chimps to grow coarse hair on their bodies you can eliminate all parts of the sequence that are identical to humans.
  Actually, it's quite possible that we have the gene that causes chimps to grow coarse hair on their bodies, but that we have another gene that represses the expression of coarse hair (or perhaps that we don't have the gene which turns on the expression of coarse hair).
Engineered Beings by ed333 · 2003-12-11 03:43 · Score: 2, Funny

Finally, the proof can be discovered that humans were engineered from the indiginous life on this planet by an alien superrace that will surely soon return to dominate us all!!!!
....adjusting tinfoil hat now...
1. Re:Engineered Beings by Patrik_AKA_RedX · 2003-12-11 05:35 · Score: 1
  
  Finally, the proof can be discovered that humans were engineered from the indiginous life on this planet by an alien superrace that will surely soon return to dominate us all!!!!
  Ever saw The Truman Show? Ok, you don't have to admit it, but perhaps those aliens didn't create us to dominate, but just as entertainment.
2. Re:Engineered Beings by SEE · 2003-12-11 14:29 · Score: 1
  
  Danikite! Shirt! Humanity Uplifted itself!
What a difference 1% makes by randall_burns · 2003-12-11 05:03 · Score: 1

I wonder what this implies about the way the genetic code is really organized. A friend suggested that 1% figure is a bit misleading beacuse it may involve parts of the genetic code that are more like a "high level language" not the "firmware".
Nature also reported... by jabberjaw · 2003-12-11 05:20 · Score: 2, Interesting

In the November 27 2003 issue of Nature, the jounral also reported on a UN meeting of the GRASP (Great Apes Survival Project) in Paris. Apprantly, there is the very real possibility of every great ape in the wild becoming extinct in less than 100 years. Faced with this, I think it might be a wise idea to start to work on the orang-utan's seqeunce..
Importance of this by e.+boaz · 2003-12-11 07:46 · Score: 1

I guess they aren't monkeying around with this project.
Bit torrent ? by linzeal · 2003-12-11 07:54 · Score: 1

Anyone got the BT for the data?

--
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Closest relative? by booch · 2003-12-11 07:56 · Score: 2, Informative

I thought it was well-established that bonobos are the species most closely related to humans.

--
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
1. Re:Closest relative? by Cujo · 2003-12-11 08:53 · Score: 1
  
  But aren't bonobos chimps? Also, I believe that it's not really established yet ust how close chimps are to humans. Estimates range from 94% to 99%. This should settle it once the comparisons are done.
  
  --
  Helium balloons want to be free.
2. Re:Closest relative? by booch · 2003-12-11 11:46 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  According to the link I provided, no -- bonobos are not chimps. They are commonly called pygmy chimps, but it says that is an incorrect label.
  
  --
  Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
3. Re:Closest relative? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-11 12:09 · Score: 0
  
  But aren't bonobos chimps?
  From the NIH's Entrez
  (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwt ax.cgi?mode=Undef&id=207598&lvl=3&keep=1&srchmode= 1&unlock)
  Bonobos are Pan paniscus
  Chimps are Pan troglodytes
  Humans are Homo Sapiens
  They're the same genus, but not the same species.
4. Re:Closest relative? by SEE · 2003-12-11 14:39 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Bonobos and the common chimp, as best we can tell, are both humanity's closest relative, having diverged from each other after their common ancestors and those of humans had diverged. That is, there is a common bonobo-chimp ancestor, and a common bonobo-chimp-human ancestor, but no common bonobo-human or chimp-human ancestor that is not also an ancestor of the third.
  
  Similarly, humans, common chimpanzees, and bonobo chimpanzees are all more closely related to each other than any is to the gorilla. Humans, common chimpanzees, bonobo chimpanzees, and gorillas are all more closely related to each other than any of the four is to the orangutan. And the five great apes (including man) are more closely related to each other than any is to the "lesser" apes.
5. Re:Closest relative? by booch · 2003-12-12 02:52 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks, that's a pretty darn good answer.
  
  --
  Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
Follow-up by Cujo · 2003-12-12 09:55 · Score: 1

First order comparisons between the genomes are already being done. See this
Coolness.

--
Helium balloons want to be free.