Chimp Genome Special at Nature:
http://www.nature.com/news/specials/chimpgenome/index.html

ED. COM. Whilst most articles about the chimp genome are concentrating on how similar chimps and humans are, the millions of differences now known for sure actually indicate how unalike the two different groups are. Genes are like long sentences made up of many words. Just as it is possible to completely change the meaning of a sentence by changing a few letters, or inserting or removing a few words, a few small changes in DNA letters can completely change the way a gene works. In the last few years we have also learnt more about how genes are turned on and off. Small changes to the controlling genes that turn other genes on and off can result in very big differences in resulting structure and function. The first clue to how significant these types of differences are came in May 2004 when genome scientists closely compared one chromosome (no. 22) from the chimp with its human equivalent. Despite the wide spread claim that chimp and man have 98% similar DNA code letters, after looking at the effects on actual gene function made by the substitutions, insertions and deletions, they concluded equivalent chimp and human chromosomes were actually 83% different. (See our report Evidence News no 9, 2004.) We predict that when the two genomes are fully analysed they will find just as much difference for the whole genome as they did for this one chromosome. (Ref. genome, genetics, information)