LOS ANGELES, May 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. researchers have generated the first complete chromosome sequences from non-human primates, said the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Wednesday.
These sequences uncover remarkable variation between the Y chromosomes of different species, showing rapid evolution, in addition to revealing previously unstudied regions of great ape genomes, according to the NIH.
The researchers funded by the NIH focused on the X and Y chromosomes, which play roles in sexual development and fertility, among many other biological functions.
They sequenced chromosomes from five great ape species, chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla and Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, as well as one other primate species that is more distantly related to humans, the siamang gibbon.
"These chromosome sequences add a significant amount of new information," said Brandon Pickett, a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute, and an author of the study, published in Nature. "Only the chimpanzee genome sequence was fairly complete before this, but even that still had large gaps, especially in regions of repetitive DNA."
Since these primate species are the closest living relatives to humans, the new sequences can provide insights into human evolution, according to the NIH.
