Human - Chimp split 4 million years ago?

Page has gone | New ScientistIndeed. this paper, seems to discuss the human-chimp differences in the same kind of terms so we can approximately say they are therefore measuring in a comparable fashion. Doing it this way (focussing on functional DNA) we find the human-chimp difference is closer to 99%.As a more fair comparison I've located a paper that used the same process to compare mice, humans and chimps. It states:

quote:

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Here we compare {approx}90 kb of coding DNA nucleotide sequence from 97 human genes to their sequenced chimpanzee counterparts and to available sequenced gorilla, orangutan, and Old World monkey counterparts, and, on a more limited basis, to mouse. The nonsynonymous changes (functionally important), like synonymous changes (functionally much less important), show chimpanzees and humans to be most closely related, sharing 99.4% identity at nonsynonymous sites and 98.4% at synonymous sites.

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Hopefully these will springboard the debate in a tangible direction, but something tells me not to be so optimistic.

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No - I don't believe a cosmic Jewish zombie can make me live forever if I eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that I accept him as my master, so he can then remove an evil force from my soul that is present in all of humanity because a dirt/rib woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree about 6,000 years ago just after the universe was created. Why should I?

I would expect a high degree of similarity between species for genes that code for building blocks such as -keratins protein that are used to make hair, horns, nails, claws and hooves of mammals, because any change to the gene that affects how the protein is formed would change the protein.This is simple back-thinking the issue: if the same protein is being used by two different organisms, then each has a gene to code for making it that results in the same protein. Such genes could be copied and mutated, but to achieve the same end result there has to be preserved the section that codes for the construction of the protein.We also know that all life is based on a limited number of basic proteins, thus the genes that produce those proteins will need to be highly similar. Hair proteins are similar, bone proteins are similar, skin proteins are similar, etc etc.In addition the basic "body plan" is also similar with number and placement of bones, organs and the like.You could make an (probably bad) analogy to building a house and a five story apartment building using brick, wood, glass, metals and such. The instructions needed to make bricks, make mortar, make 2x4's, make nails, make glass, make pipes and ducts, etc. etc. would be the same for both building. Likewise the basic construction process used to build walls and windows and doors and floors would be the same, the only difference would be the repetitions, sizes and placement of each element -- the architectural plans. Summing up all the instructions necessary to build all the elements from scratch would mean that the regulatory (architectural) proportion would be fairly small compared to the structural proportion.Thus I would expect parts of genomes that code for building proteins to be highly similar across species, but I would expect increasing differences in parts of the genomes that code for how to assemble those proteins for increasingly different organisms.Enjoy.

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
RebelAAmericanOZen[Deist
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Yes, you're completely right. Despite the fact that it takes more than 8 years of intense study and research to achieve a doctorate in biology, the nation's top research biologists don't know the first thing about animals - at the same time that they're using their research on plants and animals to grow the very food you eat and to develop the drugs that keep millions of Americans alive.Sure, they're dumber than children.Refpunk, what the fuck is wrong with you? Do you think about these things before you say them?