Ask a Genetistist!

Humans were developed from the chimps. In Flo Paulie's article about the similarities between chimps and humans I learned alot of things, for example humans and chimps are 98% alike!! The humans and chimps started off with the same amount of chromosomes an and about 5 million years ago things started to change. Technically, the chimps would have half the number of chromosomes us humans do because one human chromosomes equals about 2 chimp chromosomes. These chromosomes can either be together or broken apart which could explain why the genomes differ by 1.2%

In the second article by Dr. Bronwyn MacInnis I learned a few interesting facts. In our body we have two copies of each chromosome. Each parent gives us a copy of 1/2 their DNA, one for each chromosome. In the end we have two copies of each chromosome, but they are a mix of both our parents. I also learned that their are over 10 trillion different combinations of genes for a chromosome. We also have alot of DNA instead of one strand because it increases genetic diversion.

In the final article I discovered that many organisms have a pair of sex cells which vary from the male and female. In humans the female pattern has the of the same letters; usually called XX and the male pattern is usually two different letters also known as XY. Though this is for humans and varies between different organisms.

Even though all of the organisms on earth are very different and confusing we are able to figure out hat makes us different. I still find the fact that chimps and humans are 98% alike surprising!!