Monkey business
Differences in gene expression levels might be sufficient to account for the behavioural and cognitive functions that distinguish us from monkeys. In the April 12 Science, Wolfgang Enard and colleagues address this issue by studying the transcriptome and proteome in human and chimpanzee tissues (Science 2002, 296:340-343).Enard et al. compared mRNA levels in the brains and livers of six humans, six chimps (Pan troglodytes) and two orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) using oligonucleotide microarrays rep
Apr 11, 2002
Differences in gene expression levels might be sufficient to account for the behavioural and cognitive functions that distinguish us from monkeys. In the April 12
Enard
They observed a 5.5-fold acceleration of the rate of change in gene expression levels in human brains compared to chimpanzees or an outer group, macaque monkeys (