Editor's Summary
1 September 2005
The chimpanzee genome
The cover photo by Kevin Langergraber shows the adult female chimpanzee 'Jolie' in Kibale National Park, Uganda. This was taken on 16 August 2004, a few weeks before Jolie gave birth to her first infant. This week marks a landmark in the study of our closest living relative: the publication by the Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium of the initial sequence of the chimpanzee genome, together with a comparison with the human genome. The paper describes changes that have shaped human and chimpanzee species since the split from our common ancestor, and hints at what makes us uniquely human: 35 million single-nucleotide substitutions, 5 million small insertions and deletions, local rearrangements and a chromosome fusion. A comparison of gene duplications in chimpanzee and human genomes reveals gene expression differences that may underlie disease susceptibility. A study of primate genomes shows that subtelomeres are hot spots of recent chromosomal duplication and gene conversion. Conservation of Y-linked genes during human evolution is revealed by comparative sequencing in the chimpanzee. The final research paper in this collection fills a big gap in our knowledge: the first chimpanzee fossils ever found show that chimps and early humans inhabited the same environments in which they evolved and diverged. The fossils — three teeth — are from half-million-year-old sediments in Kenya that also yielded fossils of Homo. Four Progress reviews accompany these papers, looking at chimp culture, social behaviour, psychology and cognition. Elsewhere in the issue, researchers talk about working with chimpanzees, a feature summarizes other primate genome projects, and in two Commentaries, important ethical issues surrounding research on great apes are considered.
News Feature: Chimp genome: Branching out
The chimp was a great start. But the genomes of our other primate relatives will help to reveal a whole lot more, says Carina Dennis.
doi:10.1038/437017a
News Feature: What the chimp means to me
Interacting with our closest living relative can be a profound experience. To mark the publication of the chimpanzee genome, Nature asked four individuals for their different perspectives.
doi:10.1038/437020a
Commentary: The ethics of research on great apes
In the wake of the chimpanzee genome publication, Pascal Gagneux, James J. Moore and Ajit Varki consider the ethical and scientific challenges for scientists who work on captive great apes.
doi:10.1038/437027a
Commentary: A unique biomedical resource at risk
Research using chimpanzees has been crucial in the fight against human diseases such as hepatitis. John L. VandeBerg, Stuart M. Zola and colleagues urge that this now dwindling resource be sustained.
doi:10.1038/437030a
Progress: The second inheritance system of chimpanzees and humans
doi:10.1038/nature04023
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (284K)
Article: A genome-wide comparison of recent chimpanzee and human segmental duplications
doi:10.1038/nature04000
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (440K) | Supplementary information
Article: Human subtelomeres are hot spots of interchromosomal recombination and segmental duplication
doi:10.1038/nature04029
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (923K) | Supplementary information
Letter: Conservation of Y-linked genes during human evolution revealed by comparative sequencing in chimpanzee
doi:10.1038/nature04101
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (261K) | Supplementary information
Letter: First fossil chimpanzee
doi:10.1038/nature04008