Study of Chimpanzee Genes with Premature Termination Codons
Author Information
Author(s): Wetterbom Anna, Gyllensten Ulf, Cavelier Lucia, Bergström Tomas
Primary Institution: Uppsala University
Hypothesis
How do premature termination codons (PTCs) affect the transcriptome diversity between humans and chimpanzees?
Conclusion
About 8% of chimpanzee genes are affected by PTCs, which likely influences the differences in gene expression and protein function between humans and chimpanzees.
Supporting Evidence
- Approximately 8% of chimpanzee genes were found to have PTCs.
- Indels were the main cause of PTCs in about 70% of the affected genes.
- PTCs were more common near the ends of genes, suggesting selection against them in functional regions.
- Gene Ontology analysis showed that olfactory receptor genes were overrepresented among PTC genes.
Takeaway
The study found that some chimpanzee genes have mistakes that stop them from making full proteins, which might help explain why humans and chimpanzees are different.
Methodology
The study compared human and chimpanzee gene sequences to identify and analyze genes with premature termination codons.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to reliance on human gene annotations and the quality of the chimpanzee genome assembly.
Limitations
The study relied on human annotations for chimpanzee genes, which may not fully capture the complexity of chimpanzee gene structure.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<6*10-8
Statistical Significance
p<6*10-8
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Want to read the original?
Access the complete publication on the publisher's website