Scientists at two major Japanese research facilities are finalizing plans for a joint project aimed at comparing the genome of humans with that of chimpanzees.

It will be run by the Brain Science Institute (BSI) and the Genomic Sciences Center (GSC), both of which are part of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Japan's foremost institution for basic science.

Two of a kind? A Japanese project could reveal exactly what humans and chimpanzees share. Credit: KAREN HUNTT MASON/CORBIS

The project will be directed by Yoshiyuki Sakaki, who holds joint appointments at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo and at the GSC. It will initially concentrate on the comparison of gene clusters expressed in the region within the brain responsible for speech and language.

“It is intellectual ability and especially language that distinguishes humans,” says Sakaki. “This project will help us to identify genes that are distinctive of humans and linked to the intellectual capacity of humans.”

The project will initially focus on genetic comparison, but a behavioural component may be added. Japan has a rich tradition of ethological research on primates.

Although work on the chimpanzee genome has barely begun, scientists think that experience in sequencing the human genome can be replicated without much problem in the case of chimpanzees.

As structural genomics and research on the mouse genome — areas where Japan has made early commitments — enter the mainstream of genome research, it is hoped that the new project will allow Japanese scientists to pursue an original field of research. “I believe this is an area where Japanese scientists can make a clear difference,” says Sakaki.

Although funds have not yet been committed, the Science and Technology Agency (STA), which oversees RIKEN, is said to be eager to promote the project for another reason.

At a recent meeting of the international advisory board of the GSC, board members expressed concern that the centre's ample facilities and resources had not been made available to outside scientists.

Both the GSC and the BSI are the result of a shift towards priority-based funding that has gained momentum since the early 1990s. So far, it has not proved easy to integrate the new centres into the diverse landscape of Japanese public research.

According to its director, Masao Ito, the BSI provides small seed funding grants for cooperation with scientists outside the centre. But he acknowledges that these are fairly small, and that it has been difficult to convince officials at the STA to upgrade resources for collaborative research.