By comparing the genetic blueprints of an array of animals, scientists are gaining new insights into our own species and all we share with other creatures.
By comparing the genetic blueprints of an array of animals, scientists are gaining new insights into our own species and all we share with other creatures.
One of the most striking revelations is that certain passages in the instructions for life have persisted across evolutionary time, representing a through line that binds all mammals—including us.
The findings come from the Zoonomia Project, an international effort that offers clues about human traits and diseases, animal abilities like hibernation and even the genetics behind a sled dog named Balto who helped save lives a century ago.
Researchers shared some of their discoveries in 11 papers published Thursday in the journal Science.
David O’Connor, who studies primate genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the studies tackle deep questions.
“It’s just the wonder of biology, how we are so similar and dissimilar to all the things around us,” said O’Connor, who wasn’t involved in the research. “It’s the sort of thing that reminds me why it’s cool to be a biologist.”
The Zoonomia team, led by Elinor Karlsson and Kerstin Lindblad-Toh at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, looked at 240 species of mammals, from bats to bison. They sequenced and compared their genomes—the instructions organisms need to develop and grow.
They found that certain regions of these genomes have stayed the same across all mammal species over millions of years of evolution.
One study found that at least 10% of the human genome is largely unchanged across species. Many of these regions occur outside the 1% of genes that give rise to proteins that control the activity of cells, the main purpose of DNA.
