The mosaic that is our genome.
The discovery of the basis of genetic variation has opened inroads to understanding our history as a species. It has revealed the remarkable genetic similarity we share with other individuals as well as with our closest primate relatives. To understand what make us unique, both as individuals and as a species, we need to consider the genome as a mosaic of discrete segments, each with its own unique history and relatedness to different contemporary and ancestral individuals.
Pääbo
Svante
S
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. paabo@eva.mpg.de
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015894:Genome, Human; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics*