Scientists on Thursday unveiled the results of a project comparing the genomes of 240 mammal species - from aardvarks and aye-ayes to zebus and zebras, as well as people - to trace evolutionary changes spanning 100 million years, pinpointing genetic traits widely shared and those more uniquely human.
and bonobos - were included, along with the western lowland gorilla and Sumatran orangutan.
"Many of these elements are located close to genes involved in embryo development - a process that needs to be tightly controlled if it is to result in the development of a healthy and functioning animal," said Uppsala University evolutionary geneticist Matthew Christmas, lead author of one of the papers.
"This makes sense as some of the biggest differences between us and our ape cousins are in our 'brain power' and cognition. It seems that a lot of what makes us human comes down to tweaks in the way that neurological genes are regulated, rather than any big changes in the genes themselves," Christmas said.
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