Comparison Reveals Gene Pathways Associated With Brain Development Immunity And Metabolism

Whole genomes map pathways of chimpanzee and bonobo divergence

Comparison reveals gene pathways associated with brain development, immunity and metabolism.

One percent of the central chimpanzee genome has been shown to derive from the bonobo ^[1] indicating two ancient hybridization events comparable to the admixture seen between H. sapiens and Neanderthals. It is known that whereas DNA sequences in humans diverged from those in bonobos and chimpanzees five to seven million years ago DNA sequences in bonobos diverged from chimpanzee sequences only 0.5 to 1.0 million years ago (Fig. 1). In a recent study ^[2] we present high-quality, chromosome-level genome sequences and mitochondrial DNA for 16 chimpanzees, 16 bonobos, 13 gorillas and three orangutans.

To identify the genomic consequences of divergence between the three species, we compare their genetic variants and gene expression patterns. We find that gene pathways associated with brain development, immunity and glucose metabolism are consistently differentially expressed in chimpanzees and bonobos compared to gorillas ^[3], suggesting these traits are evolving under positive selection in both species.

References

1. Meyer M., Kircher M., Gansauge M.-T. et al. A high-coverage genome sequence from an archaic Denisovan individual. Science 338, 222–226 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1224344
2. Scally A., Dutheil J. Y., Hillier L. W. et al. Insights into hominid evolution from the gorilla genome sequence. Nature 503, 341–352 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12611
3. Prüfer K., de Filippo C., Grote S. et al. A high-coverage Neandertal genome from Vindija Cave in Croatia. Science 358, 655–658 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao1887