Pan troglodytes
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee “Clint” (Pan troglodytes) Credit: Photo courtesy of Yerkes National Primate Research Facility
Habitat
The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) lives in the rain forest and savannah of equatorial Africa. The demand for live chimpanzees for zoos and research and a ban on breeding those chimps held captive in those facilities has led to a significant decline in the captive chimpanzee population. Partly because of their intelligence, and partly because of their close evolutionary relationship to humans, these animals have been used extensively for scientific research. Concurrently, their wild habitat is ever diminishing, causing a decline in the wild chimpanzee population. They currently are listed as an endangered species.
Biology
Chimpanzees are typically 1 to 1.7 m tall and weigh 40 to 50 kg. They have light-coloured, black, or blotchy skin, and large protruding ears. In 1961, the chimp "Ham" orbited the earth in a rocket, preceding human astronauts.
Chimpanzees eat plants, ants, termites, and occasionally meat. They live and travel in small groups, communicating and expressing their moods with a variety of hoots, grunts, roars, and screams. They apparently delight in their own sounds. Chimpanzees have also demonstrated the ability to use and make tools, share and cooperate for the common good, express complex emotions and communicate using sign language. Although the chimp is the most closely related species to human many interesting phenotypic and medical differences exist between us.
-- Excerpts from the Canadian Museum of Nature
Sequencing Summary
The chimpanzee genome was sequenced to 4X coverage initially, in collaboration with the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard. A male chimpanzee known as "Clint", from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center was chosen as the reference chimpanzee genome. Our center subsequently produced additional (2X) whole genome coverage utilizing a combination of whole genome plasmid reads as well as fosmid and BAC end sequences. The total 6X genome sequence coverage has been assembled and is now being evaluated for quality prior to release to the public through established genome web browsers. A comprehensive BAC based physical map has been produced. Ongoing sequence improvement efforts at WUGSC will act to enhance the quality of the draft assembly. We are in the process of BAC based finishing of the chimp equivalents of human chromosomes 7 and Y as well as biologically interesting regions defined in the ENCODE project.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Wes Warren | The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine |
| Robert Waterston | University of Washington |
| Tarjei Mikkelsen | Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Eric Lander | The Broad Institute |
Sequences & Maps
Assemblies
| Name | Date | Description | Blast DBs |
| Pan_troglodytes-1.0 | Oct 31, 2003 | 4X | contigs |
| Pan_troglodytes-1.1 | Oct 31, 2003 | 4X Filtered | contigs supercontigs |
| Pan_troglodytes-2.1 | Feb 28, 2006 | 6X | contigs supercontigs chromosomes |
| Pan_troglodytes-2.1.4 | Apr 15, 2011 | 6X | contigs supercontigs |
Sequences
| Name | Date | Description | Blast DBs |
| Pan_troglodytes | Oct 31, 2003 | BAC ends and Fosmid ends | bac_ends fosmid_ends |
Maps
| Name | Date | Type | Description |
| Pan troglodytes | Mar 05, 2006 | Physical | FPC |
Related Links
Sequence Data
Genome Browser
Others
Publications
Hughes JF, Skaletsky H, Pyntikova T, Graves TA, van Daalen SK, Minx PJ, Fulton RS,…
Chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes are remarkably divergent in structure and gene content.
Nature. 2010 Jan 28;463(7280):536-9. Epub 2010 Jan 13. PubMed | View Abstract
The Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium
Initial sequence of the chimpanzee genome and comparison with the human genome
Nature. 2005 Sep 1;437(7055):69-87. PubMed | View Abstract
Hughes JF, Skaletsky H, Pyntikova T, Minx PJ, Graves T, Rozen S, Wilson RK, Page…
Conservation of Y-linked genes during human evolution revealed by comparative sequencing in chimpanzee.
Nature. 2005 Sep 1;437(7055):100-3. PubMed | View Abstract
Cheng Z, Ventura M, She X, Khaitovich P, Graves T, Osoegawa K, Church D, DeJong…
A genome-wide comparison of recent chimpanzee and human segmental duplications.
Nature. 2005 Sep 1;437(7055):88-93. PubMed | View Abstract
Rozen S, Skaletsky H, Marszalek JD, Minx PJ, Cordum HS, Waterston RH, Wilson RK, Page…
Abundant gene conversion between arms of palindromes in human and ape Y chromosomes.
Nature. 2003 Jun 19;423(6942):873-6. PubMed | View Abstract
