(Press-News.org) The direct ancestors of orang-utans were once widely distributed in south-east Asia but the two modern orang-utan species are confined to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Both species are endangered, largely as a consequence of destruction of their rainforest habitat. The orang-utans are the only great apes that spend most of their time in trees. Nevertheless, the species share a number of features with other apes: they are adept in their use of tools and live in complex social groups that show evidence of cultural learning.
A wide-ranging international consortium has now presented the full genomic sequence of a female Sumatran orang-utan named Susie. An analysis of the sequence reveals the orang-utan genome to be remarkably stable: it has suffered far fewer duplication events than the human or chimpanzee genome. As a result of the slow rate of genomic evolution, the orang-utan is genetically closest to a putative ancestral great ape. Comparing the new sequence with that of the human genome and other mammalian genomes thus provides unique insights into the evolution of man. Kosiol has examined a total of nearly 14,000 human genes that are also found in the orang-utan, chimpanzee, macaque and dog genomes. She was able to show that genes involved in two processes have been particularly subject to natural selection in primate evolution: visual perception and the metabolism of glycolipids. Intriguingly, defects in glycolipid metabolism are known to be associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases in humans. "Changes in lipid metabolism may have played a big part in neurological evolution in primates, as well as being involved in the diversity of diets and life history strategies," Kosiol believes. "Apes, especially orang-utans, have slower rates of reproduction and much lower energy usage than other mammals. It would be very valuable to sequence more primate genomes to enable more comparative analysis of this kind and thus help us understand the evolution of primates and our own species."
In fact, the scientists have accomplished far more than merely sequencing a single genome. Taking advantage of the new next generation sequencing technologies, they also sequenced the genomes of ten additional orang-utans, five from Sumatra and five from Borneo. Examining all the sequences together permits an estimate of when the two species separated from one another – about 400,000 years ago, which is considerably more recent than previously believed – and enables an assessment of the diversity among them. The surprising finding is that the Sumatran orang-utan is genetically much more variable than its close cousin on Borneo despite now having a much smaller population. There are thought to be about 40,000-50,000 Bornean orang-utans left in the wild but the Sumatran orang-utan is believed to number only 7,000-7,500 individuals and the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as critically endangered. As Kosiol says, "the greater diversity of Sumatran orang-utans compared with Bornean orang-utans could be very important for conservation efforts. We need to do all we can to maintain the diversity of both species."
INFORMATION:
The paper Comparative and demographic analysis of orang-utan genomes by Devin P. Locke et al. will be published on 27 January 2011 by the journal Nature.
About the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna
The University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna is the only academic and research institution in Austria that focuses on the veterinary sciences. About 1000 employees and 2300 students work on the campus in the north of Vienna, which also houses the animal hospital and various spin-off-companies.
http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at
Scientific contact:
Dr Carolin Kosiol, E carolin.kosiol@vetmeduni.ac.at, T +43 1 25077-4331, M +43 676 305 1877
Released by:
Klaus Wassermann, E klaus.wassermann@vetmeduni.ac.at, T +43 1 25077-1153
If you knew Susie -- the sequence of the orangutan genome
2011-01-27
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Casualties of war: Wounded veterans more likely to die of coronary heart disease
2011-01-27
War-time stress may lead to an increased risk death by coronary heart disease in later life. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Health Services Research surveyed a cohort of 55 year old Finnish WW2 veterans in 1980, and then carried out a follow-up study 28 years later.
Dr Seppo Nikkari and his team from the University of Tampere in Finland conducted the study. He said "During the 28 year follow up , out of 412 deaths, 140 were due to coronary heart disease (CHD), making wounded veterans 1.7 times more likely to die from CHD than the comparison ...
UT Southwestern researchers uncover potential 'cure' for type 1 diabetes
2011-01-27
DALLAS – Jan. 26, 2011 – Type 1 diabetes could be converted to an asymptomatic, non-insulin-dependent disorder by eliminating the actions of a specific hormone, new findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest.
These findings in mice show that insulin becomes completely superfluous and its absence does not cause diabetes or any other abnormality when the actions of glucagon are suppressed. Glucagon, a hormone produced by the pancreas, prevents low blood sugar levels in healthy individuals. It causes high blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes.
"We've ...
Making a point
2011-01-27
Northwestern University researchers have developed a new technique for rapidly prototyping nanoscale devices and structures that is so inexpensive the "print head" can be thrown away when done.
Hard-tip, soft-spring lithography (HSL) rolls into one method the best of scanning-probe lithography -- high resolution -- and the best of polymer pen lithography -- low cost and easy implementation.
HSL could be used in the areas of electronics (electronic circuits), medical diagnostics (gene chips and arrays of biomolecules) and pharmaceuticals (arrays for screening drug candidates), ...
Mount Sinai researchers identify potential therapeutic target for improving long-term memory
2011-01-27
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a therapy that may enhance memory and prevent the loss of long-term memory. The research is published in the January 27th issue of Nature.
Led by Cristina Alberini, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai, the research team evaluated how a protein called insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), a gene expressed during brain development that declines with aging, impacts memory formation and retention.
IGF-II is enriched in the adult brain in several areas, including the hippocampus and cortex, which ...
Canadian researchers discover new way to prevent infections in dialysis patients
2011-01-27
Researchers have discovered that a drug used to treat dialysis catheter malfunction in kidney dialysis patients may now also help prevent both malfunction as well as infections.
Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn from the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine and her colleague Dr. Nairne Scott-Douglas, both members of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, undertook a randomized trial at 11 sites across Canada. 115 hemodialysis patients were administered the usual catheter locking solution of heparin after every dialysis session, while 110 patients received rt-PA once ...
Princess Margaret Hospital researchers identify a key enzyme that affects radiation response
2011-01-27
Cancer researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) have discovered that targeting an enzyme called Uroporphyrinogen Decarboxylase (UROD) can sensitize diseased tissue to radiation and chemotherapy, which could mean fewer side effects for individuals with head and neck cancer.
The findings, published online today in Science Translational Medicine (http://stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.3001922) are significant because they suggest that targeting UROD – identified for the first time as a key player in human cancers – can selectively boost the effects ...
Genetic archaeology finds parts of our genome more closely related to orangutans than chimps
2011-01-27
January 26, 2011 – In a study published online today in Genome Research (www.genome.org), in coordination with the publication of the orangutan genome sequence, scientists have presented the surprising finding that although orangutans and humans are more distantly related, some regions of our genomes are more alike than those of our closest living relative, the chimpanzee.
The fossil record helped to establish evolutionary relationships and estimate divergence times of the primate branch leading to humans, but not until the advent of genome sequencing technology has it ...
Highly interactive training helps workers in dangerous jobs avoid deadly mistakes
2011-01-27
WASHINGTON – Hands-on safety training for workers in highly hazardous jobs is most effective at improving safe work behavior, according to psychologists who analyzed close to 40 years of research. However, less engaging training can be just as effective in preparing workers to avoid accidents when jobs are less dangerous.
More interactive types of safety training may help employees become more aware of the threats they face on the job and avoid making deadly mistakes, according to the findings in the January issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, which is published ...
First study of dispersants in Gulf spill suggests a prolonged deepwater fate
2011-01-27
To combat last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as scientists begin to assess how well the strategy worked at breaking up oil droplets, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) chemist Elizabeth B. Kujawinski and her colleagues report that a major component of the dispersant itself was contained within an oil-gas-laden plume in the deep ocean and had still not degraded some three months after it ...
Course correction needed for Alzheimer's therapies, experts warn
2011-01-27
Misaligned research, medical challenges and harsh economics are thwarting efforts to slow the destructive course of Alzheimer's disease in the United States, according to a trio of nationally regarded Alzheimer's researchers writing a "Perspective" in Thursday's (Jan. 27) issue of the journal Neuron.
The foremost obstacle is that the most promising preventive strategies are being tested in patients firmly in the grip of Alzheimer's disease — the ones least likely to be helped.
The approach would be similar to testing statins — drugs widely used to prevent heart disease ...