Book contents
- Chimpanzee
- Reviews
- Chimpanzee
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Sister’s Keeper
- 2 Wild Lesson
- 3 A Most Surprising Creature
- 4 Kin
- 5 Scratching Out a Living in an Unforgiving World
- 6 Guts, Glorious Guts, Large Stomach, and Colon
- 7 Thews, Sinews, and Bone
- 8 Arboreal Gathering, Terrestrial Traveling
- 9 Forged in Nature’s Cauldron
- 10 Up from the Protoape
- 11 Building a Natural Wonder
- 12 The Source of Similarity
- 13 Making Your Way in the Great Wild World
- 14 The Grim Reaper in the Forest Primeval
- 15 Powering Life
- 16 Shelter from the Storm
- 17 Meat-Seeking Missiles
- 18 The Mind of the Chimpanzee
- 19 The Brain of the Chimpanzee
- 20 Tired Nature’s Sweet Restorer
- 21 Chimpanzee Thought Transfer
- 22 Ape Implements
- 23 Wisdom of the Ages
- 24 The Daily Grind
- 25 A Nation at War with Itself
- 26 The Sporting Chimpanzee
- 27 The Passion of Pan
- 28 Into the Light
- 29 The Other Sister, Bonobos
- 30 Sister Species
- Book part
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
- References
12 - The Source of Similarity
Chimpanzee Genetics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2020
- Chimpanzee
- Reviews
- Chimpanzee
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Sister’s Keeper
- 2 Wild Lesson
- 3 A Most Surprising Creature
- 4 Kin
- 5 Scratching Out a Living in an Unforgiving World
- 6 Guts, Glorious Guts, Large Stomach, and Colon
- 7 Thews, Sinews, and Bone
- 8 Arboreal Gathering, Terrestrial Traveling
- 9 Forged in Nature’s Cauldron
- 10 Up from the Protoape
- 11 Building a Natural Wonder
- 12 The Source of Similarity
- 13 Making Your Way in the Great Wild World
- 14 The Grim Reaper in the Forest Primeval
- 15 Powering Life
- 16 Shelter from the Storm
- 17 Meat-Seeking Missiles
- 18 The Mind of the Chimpanzee
- 19 The Brain of the Chimpanzee
- 20 Tired Nature’s Sweet Restorer
- 21 Chimpanzee Thought Transfer
- 22 Ape Implements
- 23 Wisdom of the Ages
- 24 The Daily Grind
- 25 A Nation at War with Itself
- 26 The Sporting Chimpanzee
- 27 The Passion of Pan
- 28 Into the Light
- 29 The Other Sister, Bonobos
- 30 Sister Species
- Book part
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
- References
Summary
With the possible exception of natural selection, the discovery of DNA and its function must be the greatest breakthrough in the biological sciences. Genetics is increasingly a part of all our lives as DNA sequencing allows more targeted medical interventions and as we anticipate gene therapy permanently eliminating some genetic diseases. Bringing it closer to home, some diseases are the result of the afflicted person possessing a chimpanzee version of a gene. Humans and chimpanzees differ because their DNA differs. We have known the basics for over half a century, and now at last we can point to specific genes when we discuss human/chimpanzee differences. While your grandparents can probably remember the very first time they heard the term “deoxyribonucleic acid” and puzzled over the mysterious workings of this newly discovered molecule, you probably learned that a gene is a length of DNA that codes for a specific protein before you got out of primary school. How long before we have a short list of the genes that make us human, rather than chimpanzee?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- ChimpanzeeLessons from our Sister Species, pp. 217 - 241Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020