Primate Shadow Play

Abstract
Comparing the genome sequences of distantly related species can yield valuable information about the locations of genes and of the control elements that regulate them. In their Perspective, Gibbs and Nelson discuss a new technique called phylogenetic shadowing which enabled comparison of the genome sequences of 17 closely related primate species and Homo sapiens ( Boffelli et al.). This method revealed the location of exons and regulatory regions in the human genome with increased precision.