Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Map DNA of Rhesus Monkeys
KingKong writes "Scientists have unraveled the DNA of another of our primate relatives, this time a monkey named the rhesus macaque — and the work has far more immediate impact than just to study evolution. These fuzzy animals are key to testing the safety of many medicines, and understanding such diseases as AIDS, and the new research will help scientists finally be sure when they're a good stand-in for humans. 'Having a third primate will allow scientists to compare the three genomes, with an added emphasis on singling out the genes possessed by humans alone. The end goal is to reconstruct the history of every single one of the approximately 20,000 genes, to determine when they first appeared in history, and in what species. All of this requires an extraordinary amount of information.'"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Their next feat will be to DNA map Michael Jackson, in an attempt to find out his origin. This will prove whether Michael is IN FACT a human. The problem lies within finding Michael, though DNA has been found on several African children.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
Like we really evolved from *monkeys*.
Pffft.
Well, at least not chocolate and peanut butter monkeys!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
What will these creationists do as science and facts continue to pile up?
:-) But in actuality it will probably all be pretty mundane :-/
And what will mankind do if they find that humans were manipulated at some point rather than having a slow progressive evolution? Then the argument would be God vs. Alien intervention.
This could be fun!
I wouldn't doubt that we somehow evolved from crap-slinging, organ-grinding, spider monkeys. My 2 year old reminds me of it every day.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
Besides, what good is it to map the DNA of those who aren't contributing to the gene pool?
Seriously, though, if we wanted to map variation in human DNA, we'd need far more than 20 samples. Here's some info that might interest you -- it's an effort headquartered at Stanford to map the 1% of the human genome that differentiates human populations from eachother.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
If you're interested in the nitty-gritty details, go to http://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/macaque/ . The entire special issue, including the research articles, is free for all.
And if you're not into reading scientific papers, there is an "interactive poster" with videos for the common man.
From the website
"In the 13 April 2007 issue, Science unveils the genome sequence of one of biology's most important model organisms -- the rhesus macaque monkey (Macaca mulatta). In Science, a Research Article and four Reports, as well as two News stories, detail the biomedical and evolutionary insights gained from the macaque genome, only the third primate genome to be completed after human and chimpanzee. Online, an interactive poster enhanced with images, discussions, and videos explores the significance of the rhesus macaque and its draft genome sequence to studies of primate biology and evolution. Accompanying the online feature is an educational resource for high school biology teachers, which includes teacher background information, a lesson plan, and student worksheet."
(sorry if this has already been mentioned. I checked but didn't see it)
"This brings us much closer to understanding what makes us human," said Richard Gibbs, the project leader and director of Baylor's Human Genome Sequencing Center.
No scientific effort will ever differentiate the basic category of "human", much less tell us "what it means". From the perspective of DNA, we're simply a biological continuum with animals, and no further objective conclusions will be forthcoming on this question.
The basic ability to formulate this necessary distinction is based purely in metaphysics.
~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
The Rhesus monkey is close enough to our genetic makeup to help us research many diseases. But of course, the closer its DNA, the more helpful it would be. I wonder how much temptation there is to start modifying Rhesus monkey DNA to be closer to our own. How much human DNA can you splice in there before you have something that is in effect human? What do you have if it's only half human?
This could become rather weird.