Chimpanzees change genes

Chimpanzee populations that live as neighbours have more genetic variation than humans from different continents, a study has found.

That chimpanzees from habitats in the same country, separated only by a river, are more distinct than humans from different continents is really interesting

The findings are believed to have important implications for chimp conservation.

Scientists studied DNA from 54 African chimpanzees looking for variations between different populations.

Even though the chimps lived in relative close proximity, with two groups separated only by a river, their populations were substantially more different genetically than humans from around the world. The research is published today in the online journal Public Library of Science Genetics.

Professor Peter Donnelly, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University, who co-led the study, said: “Relatively small numbers of humans left Africa 50,000-100,000 years ago. All non-African populations descended from them, and are reasonably similar genetically.

Three chimpanzee populations, or sub-species, have long been recognised. The western, central and eastern chimpanzees all live in equatorial Africa. A fourth group, the Cameroonian chimpanzee, has been proposed to live in southern Nigeria and western Cameroon. However, there has been controversy over whether it really constitutes a separate population.