Chapter 21.6, Problem 3CC

Summary Introduction

To explain: How human genome must have added three times more Alu elements as in chimpanzee’s genome.

Introduction: Alu elements are transposable genetic elements, that is, they have the ability to get transferred from one genome location to another genome location through the process of transposition. Transposition is a type of recombination process that causes a transfer of transposable elements from one site in the DNA to another site within a cell.  Alu elements are the most abundant transposable elements in the human genome, comprising almost 10 percent.

Summary Introduction

To explain: How difference in the number of Alu elements in genomes has contributed to the evolutionary divergence between human and chimpanzees.

Introduction: Divergent evolution is the formation of new species by the accumulation of changes in a group of an interbreeding population. At the molecular level, the divergence can be caused by the formation of paralogous (by gene duplication) and orthologous genes. Humans and chimpanzees have diverged from their most recent common ancestors about 6 million years ago.