Promoter regions explain ape human difference, reports an article in ScienceNOW 13 August 2007.
Although chimp and human genes are claimed to be 99 percent the same you don’t have to be a biologist to see that chimps and humans are very different. Way back in 1975 Allan Wilson of the University of Wisconsin suggested the difference may lie in the way genes are regulated, i.e. when they are turned on and off and how active they are.
A group of scientists at Duke University have now carried out a study of promoter regions, sections of DNA that regulate adjacent genes, in the human, chimp and macaque (a monkey) genomes. They found 575 human gene promoters that were quite different from chimps. Most of these were involved in controlling the development of nerve cells and their connections. A large number of others were involved in carbohydrate metabolism.
Molecular geneticist Sean Carroll of the University of Wisconsin, Madison commented that the study offers some “intriguing leads” on candidate genes to be followed up, and that changes in regulatory sequences may be important in the evolution of many species.
Editorial Comment: Promoter regions are much smaller than genes. Therefore, they only account for small differences in the DNA of different species, but they have huge effect.
This research confirms that simply comparing whole genomes, or even individual genes gives no indication of what makes two species different and it is about time evolutionists stopped using the 99 percent excuse for claiming that chimps and humans were once the same creature.
Evidence News 10 October 2007
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