{"148951":{"#nid":"148951","#data":{"type":"news","title":"More Clues About Why Chimps and Humans Are Genetically Different","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENinety-six percent of a chimpanzee\u2019s genome is the same as a human\u2019s. It\u2019s the other 4 percent, and the vast differences, that pique the interest of Georgia Tech\u2019s Soojin Yi. For instance, why do humans have a high risk of cancer, even though chimps rarely develop the disease?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn research published in September\u2019s American Journal of Human Genetics, Yi looked at brain samples of each species. She found that differences in certain DNA modifications, called methylation, may contribute to phenotypic changes. The results also hint that DNA methylation plays an important role for some disease-related phenotypes in humans, including cancer and autism.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur study indicates that certain human diseases may have evolutionary epigenetic origins,\u201d says Yi, a faculty member in the School of Biology. \u201cSuch findings, in the long term, may help to develop better therapeutic targets or means for some human diseases. \u201c\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDNA methylation modifies gene expression but doesn\u2019t change a cell\u2019s genetic information. To understand how it differs between the two species, Yi and her research team generated genome-wide methylation maps of the prefrontal cortex of multiple humans and chimps. They found hundreds of genes that exhibit significantly lower levels of methylation in the human brain than in the chimpanzee brain. Most of them were promoters involved with protein binding and cellular metabolic processes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis list of genes includes disproportionately high numbers of those related to diseases,\u201d said Yi. \u201cThey are linked to autism, neural-tube defects and alcohol and other chemical dependencies. This suggests that methylation differences between the species might have significant functional consequences. They also might be linked to the evolution of our vulnerability to certain diseases, including cancer.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYi, graduate student Jia Zeng and postdoctoral researcher Brendan Hunt worked with a team of researchers from Emory University and UCLA. The Yerkes National Primate Research Center provided the animal samples used in the study. It was also funded by the Georgia Tech Fund for Innovation in Research and Education (GT-FIRE) and National Science Foundation grants (MCB-0950896 and BCS-0751481). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn research published in September\u2019s American Journal of Human Genetics, Soojin Yi looked at brain samples of each species. She found that differences in certain DNA modifications, called methylation, may contribute to phenotypic changes. The results also hint that DNA methylation plays an important role for some disease-related phenotypes in humans, including cancer and autism.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New research hints that DNA methylation plays an important role for some disease-related phenotypes in humans, including cancer"}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2012-08-23 12:38:26","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:43","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-08-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-08-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"99141":{"id":"99141","type":"image","title":"Chimpanzee","body":null,"created":"1449178142","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:29:02","changed":"1475894712","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:12"},"100361":{"id":"100361","type":"image","title":"Dr. Soojin Yi","body":null,"created":"1449178159","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:29:19","changed":"1475894717","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:17"}},"media_ids":["99141","100361"],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"385","name":"cancer"},{"id":"3029","name":"chimpanzee"},{"id":"1041","name":"dna"},{"id":"5718","name":"Genetics"},{"id":"168087","name":"Soojin Yi"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}