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Researchers just mapped and published the genomes of 51 creature species , from fish - use up crocodile sleep together as gharials ( Gavialis gangeticus ) to vehement swarm leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa ) . These hereditary blueprint could have broad implications for man , particularly for understand our evolutionary history , according to a paper published Jan. 26 in the journalNature Biotechnology .
" In some ways , we ’re build up an evolutionary sentence auto , " subject co - authorMichael Schatz , a Bloomberg distinguished prof of computing machine skill and biological science at Johns Hopkins University , said ina assertion . " Having the factor of our evolutionary cousins map out will help oneself us intimately infer ourselves . "
All mammals apportion a common antecedent , which many scientist trust to beMorganucodon , a bantam , shrew - alike animal that lived more than 200 million years ago — thoughsome say otherwise . In any case , this shared root intend that a large chunk of our genetic makeup resembles those of other mammals , especially chimp , which portion out up to 99 % of our deoxyribonucleic acid . By comparing the DNA of humankind and other animals , researchers can learn when and how humans deviate from other species .
But a single vertebrate genome can be billions of characters long and researchers must use different tools to break this inherited material into glob before piecing it into a full pic . As a resultant role , mapping genome has historically been a scrupulous process : begin in 1990 , it occupy researchers 13 age to create the first genetic blueprint for human .
However , DNA map technology for different metal money has advanced apace in the past few decades , and this new task cross out another dance step , cutting the sequence time from years and calendar month to just days .
To do this , the team used research from two projects : the Vertebrate Genomes Project and the European Reference Genome Atlas . From these they developed algorithms and computer computer software to assemble unforesightful transmissible segments into a full genetic function , and eventually tested how well their work flow reproduce the complete genome of a zebra finch ( Taeniopygia guttata ) , which had been previously published .
The squad see that their new technology was more effective than survive approaches at reassemble segment of the genome and create an exact map . Their software package is overt - author and available on-line viaGalaxy , a loose , web - establish political program base at Johns Hopkins and Pennsylvania State University .
" I remember my first thought was , wow , they actually made this work,“Elinor Karlsson , theatre director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School who was not involved in the survey , told Live Science . " It ’s really cool to really see not only that they negociate to come up with a system that seems to work well on pretty divers species , but they ’ve done it on a platform that is so committed to open scientific discipline and sharing workflow . "
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For this paper , the research worker focused only on craniate , and other animal , plant life or fungal species might have " something distinctive or unequalled about their genome , " which means " some of the processes that are in this grapevine are n’t going to work as well in that metal money , " Karlsson said .
But this could be cook " by modifying a few parameter " in their technique , according to the newspaper . The investigator ' goal is to sequence the genome of at least one specie across all 275 vertebrate rules of order .
