Gorilla joins the genome club : Nature News & Comment

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Gorilla joins the genome club

Sequencing of gorilla genome adds to understanding of our evolutionary path Kerri Smith 07 March 2012 Kamilah lives in San Diego, California, is 35 years old, weighs 136 kilograms and has a dark fur coat covering her skin. And she is the first gorilla to have its full genome sequenced1. Researchers have already sequenced the genomes of humans, chimpanzees2 and orangutans3. Understanding these genetic catalogues, from our closest living relatives, can reveal much about our evolutionary path such as when we diverged from our primate cousins and what makes humans different from apes. After chimps, gorillas are the closest living relative of humans. When humans and chimps diverged it wasnt long after gorillas had separated from the same lineage, says Aylwyn Scally, whose team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK, led the sequencing effort. Having additional lineages puts human evolution into important perspective, says Wolfgang Enard, who works on human evolutionary genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, but was not involved in the study. The team also compared Kamilah's genome with partial sequences for three other gorillas two from the same sub-species as Kamilah, the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and one eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri).
Whole-genome sequencing of Kamilah the western lowland gorilla will help in our understanding of our own evolutionary history.
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Overall, the data suggest that gorillas split from their common ancestor with humans and chimps about 10 million years ago, and that chimps and humans split from each other about 4 million years after that. This helps to clear up the evolutionary conundrum of the three types of great ape. For a long time there was a discordance between the fossil evidence and genetic estimates, in the sense that genetic estimates came up with speciation times that were more recent, says Scally. Puzzling surprises But the genome sequencing has thrown up surprises, too. The standard view of the great-ape family tree is that humans and chimps are more similar to each other than either is to the gorilla because

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chimps and humans diverged more recently. But, 15% of human genes look more like the gorilla version than the chimp version. Much of the 15% is in sections of the genome that do not code for proteins. But the researchers also looked at functional gene changes. They found that certain genes including some involved in hearing and brain development had gone through more rapid changes than expected in both the gorilla and human lineage. Some of these rapid changes are puzzling: the gene LOXHD1 is involved in hearing in humans 4 and was therefore thought to be involved in speech, but the gene shows just as much accelerated evolution in the gorilla. But we know gorillas dont talk to each other if they do theyre managing to keep it secret, says Scally. This weakens the connection between the gene and language, says Enard. If you find this in the gorilla, this option is out of the window. The sequencing of the gorilla genome could also have an influence on conservation. People can start to take

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14/12/2013 07:06 p.m.

Gorilla joins the genome club : Nature News & Comment

http://www.nature.com/news/gorilla-joins-the-genome-club-1.10185

the genome and try to look for bits of it that might be linked to animals fitness, says Harry Marshall, a primate researcher at the Zoological Society of London. So what species should be the next to join the genome-sequencing club? There are hundreds of primate species, and in an ideal world Enard would like to sequence them all. But there is not much point without data on behaviour and physiology. We want phenotypes too, he says.

Genomics: Gorilla gorilla gorilla Human malarial parasite came from gorillas Primate researchers ask the big questions
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doi:10.1038/nature.2012.10185

References
1. Scally, A. et al. Nature 483, 169175 (2012). Show context 2. The Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium Nature 437, 6987 (2005). Show context 3. Locke, D. P. et al. Nature 469, 529533 (2011). Show context 4. Clark, A.G. et al Science 302, 19601963 (2003). Show context ISI ChemPort Article PubMed ISI ChemPort PubMed Article PubMed ChemPort

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From nature.com Genomics: Gorilla gorilla gorilla 07 March 2012 Human malarial parasite came from gorillas 22 September 2010 Primate researchers ask the big questions 31 October 2008 Gorilla numbers doubled in the Congo 13 August 2008 Nature Special: Chimp genome From elsewhere Wolfgang Enard, Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

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2 comments
Asif Anwar
2012-03-13 01:18 PM

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Darwinism and Religious beliefs still have a raging conflict. Even today, there is no proof that Darwin was right and the religions are wrong

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Gorilla joins the genome club : Nature News & Comment

http://www.nature.com/news/gorilla-joins-the-genome-club-1.10185

and vice versa. But, this is a good step in identifying the genome of our so called ancestors and we are close to ending the debate. Asif Anwar

Asif Anwar

2012-03-13 01:15 PM

Darwinism and Religious beliefs still have a raging conflict. Even today, there is no proof that Darwin was right and the religions are wrong and vice versa. But, this is a good step in identifying the genome of our so called ancestors and we are close to ending the debate. <a href="http://www.seoppcsmm.com">Asif Anwar</a>

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