Selective Sweeps in the Human Genome: A Starting Point for Identifying Genetic Differences Between Modern Humans and Chimpanzees
Open Access
- 1 December 2002
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Molecular Biology and Evolution
- Vol. 19 (12) , 2342-2345
- https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a004061
Abstract
Despite more than a century of interest in the evolution of humans from our close relatives the great apes, the genes responsible for phenotypic differences between humans and chimpanzees have remained elusive. Sequencing of the chimpanzee genome is expected to identify some 42 million nucleotide differences between humans and chimpanzee. How can we identify the small proportion of these differences which are the essential elements of being human? We have analyzed the draft human genome to find regions which may have experienced recent strong selection in the human line. Included in the identified regions are several genes for neural development and function, skeletal development, and fat metabolism. These observations provide a starting point in the search to identify the salient genetic differences between modern humans and our immediate hominid ancestors.Keywords
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