Date: February 25, 2016
Source: University of Leicester
Chimpanzees have an ancient common
ancestor -- or genetic 'Adam' -- that lived over one million years ago,
according to University of Leicester
In a study, which was funded by the
Wellcome Trust and published in the journal Genome Research, the research
team led by Professor Mark Jobling from the University of Leicester
The study also looked at mitochondrial
DNA (mtDNA), passed from mothers to offspring, in the same set of animals.
This allowed the construction of
genealogical trees that could be compared between species and subspecies -- and
helped the researchers to discover that the genetic 'Adam' for chimpanzees
lived a remarkable one million years ago.
Dr Pille Hallast from the Department of
Genetics, lead author on the paper, explained: "The ancestor of a
Y-chromosome family tree is sometimes called 'Y-chromosomal Adam'. We can
compare the ages of 'Adams ' between the
species. For humans the age is about 200 thousand years, while for gorillas
it's only about 100 thousand years. Thanks to two chimps in our sample, Tommy
and Moritz, chimpanzees have an amazingly ancient 'Adam', who lived over 1
million years ago.
"The Y chromosome tree for gorillas
is very shallow, which fits with the idea that very few male gorillas (alpha
males) father the offspring within groups. By contrast, the trees in
chimpanzees and bonobos are very deep, which fits with the idea that males and
females mate with each other more indiscriminately."
The project's leader, Professor Mark
Jobling from the University of Leicester
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