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Orangutans are almost human

Match by 97% with the human genome. Although we are not so similar.

An international research consortium with English participation, has sequenced the genome of the orangutan, the most distant hominid human being, albeit with a genetic match to reach 97 percent, according to a report this week "Nature" on the cover.

Scientists at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology of Barcelona (UPF-CSIC) and Institute of Oncology, University of Oviedo have collaborated on this work, led by researcher Devin Locke, of Washington University in St. Louis, which is a collaboration of over thirty laboratories in seven countries.

Researchers have identified more than three billion base pairs that constitute the genome of the orangutan, an animal with which man shared a common ancestor more than twelve million years.

Despite severe human genetic similarities with the orangutan, "humans are not so similar to that hominid, or the rest of them as thought a few years ago," said Arcadi Efe Navarro, coordinator of the work of the study by researchers at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwhere he is professor of genetics.

Large differences

The scientist, who is also professor of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), added that "thanks to modern techniques have been found important differences in certain fragments of the genome of a and others, and that makes us very different. "

Only 3% of the differences in the areas of the genome representing about 90 million variations are not common, which would add another 15% of full features different as a result of mismatched genomic fragments between the two groups.

"Only in those fragments of the genome not shared," says the researcher could have up to dozens of genes that we have but the orangutans, and vice versa. "

Advances

According to scientists, with the orangutan genome sequencing has been extended genomic knowledge of living primates, including include man and chimpanzee.

This knowledge will be completed with the genome of bonobo and gorilla expected in the coming months.

other hand, have also been sequenced genomes of the extinct Neanderthals and Homo hominid Denisova.

To understand the evolution

Data obtained on the orangutan now provide clues to the evolution of hominids and the process that led to the emergence of human beings.

also reveal information about the mechanisms surrounding the chromosomal rearrangement of diseases such as cancer.

In the study, the scientists also discovered genetic diversity between orangutans themselves, when comparing the genome of a Sumatran orangutan with other five Borneo.

"The orangutan environment is more diverse from a genetic perspective than the average human," said in a note the study's lead author, geneticist Devin Locke, University of Washington.

The scientists recorded 13 million DNA variants in orangutans, information that will reveal the genetic diversity of these animals in the wild and in captivity and set priorities for conservation.

Diversity is

important because it enhances the ability of populations of orangutans to stay healthy and adapt to changes in the environment.