DNA and Choromosomal Evidence in Chimps and Humans
What is the evidence that explains how we share a common ancestor with chimpanzees? There is chromosomal and DNA evidence. What do these lines of evidence look like? What is the explanation for how mutations arose to separate our lineages?
There are several evidences regarding to the topic of sharing common ancestry with the chimpanzees. One of those is the human chromosome 2; all chimpanzees have 24 chromosomes while humans only 23. Scientists came up with a testable hypothesis, since humans and apes are so closely alike, then there must’ve been something that happened in which two ape chromosomes combined and form one single human chromosome when the human lineage split from the chimpanzee lineage. Scientists did the chromosomal analysis and found out that the human chromosome 2 is a fusion of two chimpanzee’s chromosomes (Alec MacAndrew; “Human Chromosome 2 is a fusion of two ancestral chromosomes”). Another additional theory that supports this theory is that scientists also found telomeres, region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromatid, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes (definition from Wikipedia.org), in the middle of the human chromosome 2, while they found additional telomeres in the ends of the chimpanzee’s chromosomes. Another evidence is the missing vitamin C case; scientists found out that about 40 million of years ago, a group of chimpanzees diverged from the rest of the primate group, this group of chimpanzees was known as the haplorrhines. The Haplorrihines were dry-nose primates (definition from Wikipedia.org), and they had lost the function of an enzyme that would manufacture vitamin C and had to acquire it by themselves from the environment. Scientists discovered that humans have the exact same mutation; humans could produce vitamin C by themselves either, and they had to acquire it too from their environment. Mutations arise to separate our lineage because of the need to survive. Every living thing struggle to survive, therefore they adapt to their environment. Mutations can be beneficial sometimes; it’s actually an error in the DNA. Some living things, in their struggle to survive, develop different behaviors and sometimes because of this they mutate for better or worse unknowingly.
MacAndrew, Alec. "Molecular Biology." Human Chromosome 2 is a fusion of two ancestral chromosomes. N.p., 01 Mar 2003. Web. 29 Sep 2013. .
Luskin, Casey. "Evolution News and Views." Human/Ape Common Ancestry: Following the Evidence. N.p., 14 Jun 2011. Web. 29 Sep 2013. .
. Evidence of Chimp/Human Common Ancestry. N.p., 04 Apr 2003. Web. 29 Sep 2013. .
For a long time it has been speculated that humans share a common ancestry with chimps and there are several pieces of evidence that prove this thinking correct. Many say that the structure of human chromosome 2, shows that humans evolved from a common ancestor shared also with chimps and bonobos. In the early 1980’s biologists compared the chromosomes of humans, gorillas and orangutans, the studies showed that there was a great degree of similarity between human and chimp chromosomes. When these were aligned the chromosomes showed almost identical band patters, band locations and ban stain intensity. The biggest difference though is that while humans have 46 chromosomes, chimps have 48. Scientists account for this with two main ideas, one of them being the fusion theory. They believe that 2 chimp chromosomes, fused to create what now is human chromosome 2.(reasons.org) The other possibility is that there was a common ancestor had 46 chromosomes and there were events that increased the number in all other great ape species, which would be the explanation for different mutations as well.(Dennis Venema)
There is also evidence of the theory in our DNA. Tests have shown that the genetic difference between the human and chimpanzee genome indicate a difference of 1.2%(according to The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History research) The bonobo a relative of the chimpanzee also differs from humans a 1.2% percent and all three humans, chimps and bonobos are different than the gorilla by 1.6%.
http://www.reasons.org/articles/chromosome-2-the-best-evidence-for-evolution June 1, 2010
http://biologos.org/blog/denisovans-humans-and-the-chromosome-2-fusion(Dennis Venema is Fellow of Biology for The BioLogos Foundation and associate professor of biology at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. His research is focused on the genetics of pattern formation and signalling) September 6,2012
BLOG: DNA and Chromosomal Evidence in Chimps and Humans
Humans and chimpanzee share various similarities leading us to know we must have a common ancestor. We don’t just look similar; we also behave in similar ways. Scientists have showed various sets of evidence proving that we do have a common ancestor. Scientists have gotten most of this evidence from the DNA of both species and compared them. According to “The American Museum of Natural History” (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/human-origins/understanding-our-past/dna-comparing-humans-and-chimps) Humans and chimpanzee share 98.8% of DNA. It’s said that our common ancestor lived around six to seven million years. We have certain differences since we evolved differently. Human and chimpanzee DNA are almost identical when you compare the bands of chromosomes. According to Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph. D: One of the main ideas that give evidence that humans come from a common ancestor with chimpanzee is that the end-to-end fusion of two small chimpanzee-like chromosomes (now called 2A and 2B in chimpanzees) formed one stable large chromosome in humans (chromosome 2). (http://www.icr.org/article/6044/). There is also evidence for a large double cruciform DNA structure on the DNA on the X chromosome of humans and chimpanzees. This means that the gene sequence from Homo sapiens (Humans) and Pan troglodytes (Chimpanzees) revealed that most of the nucleotide differences between the two species are symmetrical to the apex of the gene sequence.
Human and chimps are homologous. This means that they have a common ancestor not too long ago. Every human has 23 chromosomes while every chimp has 24. There has been talk that chromosomes 12 and 13 of chimp are like the chromosome 2 in humans. This goes to say that maybe the chimps 12 and 13 chromosome was once fused together and became our second chromosome. There is much evidence to prove that this has happened. The banding pattern of humans’ 2nd chromosome is exactly the same as the banding pattern of chimps’ 12th and 13th chromosome. This is exactly what we would see in the case of a fusion. Also, there are remains of the sequences near the telomeres of the chimpanzee chromosomes are found in the middle of the human chromosome. This would also happen in a fusion event. The centromere of humans’ chromosome 2 aligns perfectly with the chimpanzees’ chromosome 13. (http://phylointelligence.com/genetics.html). Humans and chimp DNA are 98.8% the same. Some similar genes that we have in common are HEM B - Blood clotting, hemophilia, CPX - facial development, cleft palate, SMC1L1 - chromosome maintenance, OPN1LW - red color vision and the immune system. Although they may not act in the same way because, like in epigenetics, the genes can be turned high or low. We have a similar immune system but chimpanzees’ are immune to getting malaria. (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/human-origins/understanding-our-past/dna-comparing-humans-and-chimps) Mutation: The changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes (Google definition). The mutation in the chimp was helpful to the chimp at the time rather than harmful. This is how they chimp mutation arose and passed down its genes to the Homo sapiens. As Darwin said, the survival of the fittest fits in here. Since the gene helped it was passed down, if it had not helped it would died off. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation) "Genetic Evidence." Genetic Evidence. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. . "DNA: Comparing Humans and Chimps." AMNH. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. . "Mutation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. .
The sharing of a common ancestor is not an uncommon thing, due to the fact that all living organisms evolved from Eukaryote cells. The difference between whether or not that common ancestor is relevant is how close or recent that common ancestor is to the animals that have branched off from it. One wide search for common ancestor is that of humans and chimpanzees. One great example to prove this is the human chromosome 2, while humans only have 23 chromosomes chimps have 24 chromosomes. Why does our entire DNA match up with the chimps DNA except chromosome 2? This is because scientists have postulated that during the separation of the population group of the common ancestors, in one population group the chromosome two and three of the chimpanzees collided, though end to end fusion, to form one single chromosome 2. This is not just a myth Chromosome 2 is the second largest human chromosome, spanning more than 243 million base pairs, base pairs are the building blocks of the DNA double helix. Also the DNA sequence of the human chromosome 2 is similar to almost identical to that of 2 separate chromosomes of the chimpanzee 2A and 2B to form what we know as chromosome 2. Furthermore the presence of vestigial telomeres, normally found only at the ends of a chromosome, but in chromosome 2 there are additional telomere sequences in the middle; proving that they were once two separate chromosomes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome_2_(human) http://www.reasons.org/articles/chromosome-2-the-best-evidence-for-evolution http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/3/l_073_47.html These changes in the population of primates are thought to have risen about 8-6 million years ago. When the ancestral population of apes that gave rise to humans and chimps was quite large and diverse genetically—numbering about 27,000 breeding individuals. The population split and gave rise to the human ancestor. http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2012/06/bonobos-join-chimps-closest-human-relatives https://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=801 http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics
Some evidence that chimpanzees have commons ancestors with humans is that they have similar parts because they have the same design as humans. Also scientists found an enzyme called GULO, that produces vitamin C in their body. Primates like chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and humans, require vitamin C. There is also fossil records that show a transition over 5 million years ago from chimpanzee-size creatures to hominids with larger brains that walked on two legs. Scientist also found the same defective genes appear in both humans and chimpanzees. They found that the gene appeared in the same locations and that the observation is difficult to explain except by common ancestry.
The line of evidence show that during years chimpanzees acquired two extra chromosomes. The difference between the T50H values of humans and the chimpanzees is about 1.6, and the difference between the chimpanzees and the gorilla is about 2.3. That says that humans and chimpanzees have shared common ancestors before other species. This was calibrated with fossil evidence. "Y-chromosomal Adam" follows from the definition of Y-chromosomal Adam that he had at least two sons who both have unbroken lineages that have survived. If one of those sons die out, then the title of "Y-chromosomal Adam" moves forward, until a descent that has two sons that have patrilineal descendants. Once a linage has died it irreversible lost so it can’t change anymore.
There are several evidences regarding to the topic of sharing common ancestry with the chimpanzees. One of those is the human chromosome 2; all chimpanzees have 24 chromosomes while humans only 23. Scientists came up with a testable hypothesis, since humans and apes are so closely alike, then there must’ve been something that happened in which two ape chromosomes combined and form one single human chromosome when the human lineage split from the chimpanzee lineage. Scientists did the chromosomal analysis and found out that the human chromosome 2 is a fusion of two chimpanzee’s chromosomes (Alec MacAndrew; “Human Chromosome 2 is a fusion of two ancestral chromosomes”). Another additional theory that supports this theory is that scientists also found telomeres, region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromatid, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes (definition from Wikipedia.org), in the middle of the human chromosome 2, while they found additional telomeres in the ends of the chimpanzee’s chromosomes.
ReplyDeleteAnother evidence is the missing vitamin C case; scientists found out that about 40 million of years ago, a group of chimpanzees diverged from the rest of the primate group, this group of chimpanzees was known as the haplorrhines. The Haplorrihines were dry-nose primates (definition from Wikipedia.org), and they had lost the function of an enzyme that would manufacture vitamin C and had to acquire it by themselves from the environment. Scientists discovered that humans have the exact same mutation; humans could produce vitamin C by themselves either, and they had to acquire it too from their environment.
Mutations arise to separate our lineage because of the need to survive. Every living thing struggle to survive, therefore they adapt to their environment. Mutations can be beneficial sometimes; it’s actually an error in the DNA. Some living things, in their struggle to survive, develop different behaviors and sometimes because of this they mutate for better or worse unknowingly.
MacAndrew, Alec. "Molecular Biology." Human Chromosome 2 is a fusion of two ancestral chromosomes. N.p., 01 Mar 2003. Web. 29 Sep 2013. .
Luskin, Casey. "Evolution News and Views." Human/Ape Common Ancestry: Following the Evidence. N.p., 14 Jun 2011. Web. 29 Sep 2013. .
. Evidence of Chimp/Human Common Ancestry. N.p., 04 Apr 2003. Web. 29 Sep 2013. .
For a long time it has been speculated that humans share a common ancestry with chimps and there are several pieces of evidence that prove this thinking correct. Many say that the structure of human chromosome 2, shows that humans evolved from a common ancestor shared also with chimps and bonobos. In the early 1980’s biologists compared the chromosomes of humans, gorillas and orangutans, the studies showed that there was a great degree of similarity between human and chimp chromosomes. When these were aligned the chromosomes showed almost identical band patters, band locations and ban stain intensity. The biggest difference though is that while humans have 46 chromosomes, chimps have 48. Scientists account for this with two main ideas, one of them being the fusion theory. They believe that 2 chimp chromosomes, fused to create what now is human chromosome 2.(reasons.org) The other possibility is that there was a common ancestor had 46 chromosomes and there were events that increased the number in all other great ape species, which would be the explanation for different mutations as well.(Dennis Venema)
ReplyDeleteThere is also evidence of the theory in our DNA. Tests have shown that the genetic difference between the human and chimpanzee genome indicate a difference of 1.2%(according to The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History research) The bonobo a relative of the chimpanzee also differs from humans a 1.2% percent and all three humans, chimps and bonobos are different than the gorilla by 1.6%.
http://www.reasons.org/articles/chromosome-2-the-best-evidence-for-evolution June 1,
2010
http://biologos.org/blog/denisovans-humans-and-the-chromosome-2-fusion(Dennis Venema is Fellow of Biology for The BioLogos Foundation and associate professor of biology at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. His research is focused on the genetics of pattern formation and signalling) September 6,2012
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics 2010-2011
Alvaro Rojas
ReplyDeleteBio 11
Andrea Rudolf
October 1, 13
BLOG: DNA and Chromosomal Evidence in Chimps and Humans
Humans and chimpanzee share various similarities leading us to know we must have a common ancestor. We don’t just look similar; we also behave in similar ways. Scientists have showed various sets of evidence proving that we do have a common ancestor. Scientists have gotten most of this evidence from the DNA of both species and compared them. According to “The American Museum of Natural History” (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/human-origins/understanding-our-past/dna-comparing-humans-and-chimps) Humans and chimpanzee share 98.8% of DNA. It’s said that our common ancestor lived around six to seven million years. We have certain differences since we evolved differently. Human and chimpanzee DNA are almost identical when you compare the bands of chromosomes. According to Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph. D: One of the main ideas that give evidence that humans come from a common ancestor with chimpanzee is that the end-to-end fusion of two small chimpanzee-like chromosomes (now called 2A and 2B in chimpanzees) formed one stable large chromosome in humans (chromosome 2). (http://www.icr.org/article/6044/). There is also evidence for a large double cruciform DNA structure on the DNA on the X chromosome of humans and chimpanzees. This means that the gene sequence from Homo sapiens (Humans) and Pan troglodytes (Chimpanzees) revealed that most of the nucleotide differences between the two species are symmetrical to the apex of the gene sequence.
Human and chimps are homologous. This means that they have a common ancestor not too long ago. Every human has 23 chromosomes while every chimp has 24. There has been talk that chromosomes 12 and 13 of chimp are like the chromosome 2 in humans. This goes to say that maybe the chimps 12 and 13 chromosome was once fused together and became our second chromosome. There is much evidence to prove that this has happened. The banding pattern of humans’ 2nd chromosome is exactly the same as the banding pattern of chimps’ 12th and 13th chromosome. This is exactly what we would see in the case of a fusion. Also, there are remains of the sequences near the telomeres of the chimpanzee chromosomes are found in the middle of the human chromosome. This would also happen in a fusion event. The centromere of humans’ chromosome 2 aligns perfectly with the chimpanzees’ chromosome 13. (http://phylointelligence.com/genetics.html).
ReplyDeleteHumans and chimp DNA are 98.8% the same. Some similar genes that we have in common are HEM B - Blood clotting, hemophilia, CPX - facial development, cleft palate, SMC1L1 - chromosome maintenance, OPN1LW - red color vision and the immune system. Although they may not act in the same way because, like in epigenetics, the genes can be turned high or low. We have a similar immune system but chimpanzees’ are immune to getting malaria. (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/human-origins/understanding-our-past/dna-comparing-humans-and-chimps)
Mutation: The changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes (Google definition). The mutation in the chimp was helpful to the chimp at the time rather than harmful. This is how they chimp mutation arose and passed down its genes to the Homo sapiens. As Darwin said, the survival of the fittest fits in here. Since the gene helped it was passed down, if it had not helped it would died off. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation)
"Genetic Evidence." Genetic Evidence. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. .
"DNA: Comparing Humans and Chimps." AMNH. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. .
"Mutation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. .
The sharing of a common ancestor is not an uncommon thing, due to the fact that all living organisms evolved from Eukaryote cells. The difference between whether or not that common ancestor is relevant is how close or recent that common ancestor is to the animals that have branched off from it. One wide search for common ancestor is that of humans and chimpanzees.
ReplyDeleteOne great example to prove this is the human chromosome 2, while humans only have 23 chromosomes chimps have 24 chromosomes. Why does our entire DNA match up with the chimps DNA except chromosome 2? This is because scientists have postulated that during the separation of the population group of the common ancestors, in one population group the chromosome two and three of the chimpanzees collided, though end to end fusion, to form one single chromosome 2. This is not just a myth Chromosome 2 is the second largest human chromosome, spanning more than 243 million base pairs, base pairs are the building blocks of the DNA double helix. Also the DNA sequence of the human chromosome 2 is similar to almost identical to that of 2 separate chromosomes of the chimpanzee 2A and 2B to form what we know as chromosome 2. Furthermore the presence of vestigial telomeres, normally found only at the ends of a chromosome, but in chromosome 2 there are additional telomere sequences in the middle; proving that they were once two separate chromosomes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome_2_(human)
http://www.reasons.org/articles/chromosome-2-the-best-evidence-for-evolution
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/3/l_073_47.html
These changes in the population of primates are thought to have risen about 8-6 million years ago. When the ancestral population of apes that gave rise to humans and chimps was quite large and diverse genetically—numbering about 27,000 breeding individuals. The population split and gave rise to the human ancestor.
http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2012/06/bonobos-join-chimps-closest-human-relatives
https://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=801
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics
Some evidence that chimpanzees have commons ancestors with humans is that they have similar parts because they have the same design as humans. Also scientists found an enzyme called GULO, that produces vitamin C in their body. Primates like chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and humans, require vitamin C. There is also fossil records that show a transition over 5 million years ago from chimpanzee-size creatures to hominids with larger brains that walked on two legs. Scientist also found the same defective genes appear in both humans and chimpanzees. They found that the gene appeared in the same locations and that the observation is difficult to explain except by common ancestry.
ReplyDeleteThe line of evidence show that during years chimpanzees acquired two extra chromosomes. The difference between the T50H values of humans and the chimpanzees is about 1.6, and the difference between the chimpanzees and the gorilla is about 2.3. That says that humans and chimpanzees have shared common ancestors before other species. This was calibrated with fossil evidence. "Y-chromosomal Adam" follows from the definition of Y-chromosomal Adam that he had at least two sons who both have unbroken lineages that have survived. If one of those sons die out, then the title of "Y-chromosomal Adam" moves forward, until a descent that has two sons that have patrilineal descendants. Once a linage has died it irreversible lost so it can’t change anymore.
http://www.proof-of-evolution.com/pseudogene.html
http://biologos.org/questions/what-scientific-evidence-do-we-have-about-the-first-humans
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Primates.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Adam