What does it mean that there is a very small difference between human and bonobo DNA?

Question

This is a question from a study guide in my anthropology class here in New York University. SOMEONE HELP ME ANSWER THIS QUESTION in scientific terms or make your answer sound smart hahah.

Answer 1

This is simple in term of genetics, but in your case, it might not be useful... DNA is a kind of recipe, and among the ingredients of such recipe, their is some that are used, and others that are not use, or used later on. So in practice, such DNA recipe could look similar with other species, as the ingredients used in it, are not express in the same order, or used in different conjunctions...

Hope this help...

Answer 2

This is exactly what it means. They take a string of human DNA and a string of bonobo DNA; just one string of the double helix. They put them together in a process called hybridization. The amount of base pair to base pair sticking will tell you how close the two species are. If you took one strand of DNA from two humans and subjected it to hybridization, the strands would perfectly stick together. A to T and C to G, by hydrogen bonding. In bonobo/human matches, the sticking of the base pairs is not quite complete.

Answer 3

I will do exactly the opposite.. If scientists know soooo much about genetics and the human body.. why do so many incurable diseases and ailments still exist? Seems like a contradiction to be reading in a textbook about how intelligent they are for making all these connections with genetics.. yet, there is still so much left to learn.

It is all an educated guess, the more you trust what you are reading, the more brilliant they look in the process.. and the opposite is true.. the more you question anything scientific, the more everything begins to resemble one big educated guess.

To answer the question.. it means they are finding similarities in DNA profiles, that much can be proven.. but beyond that is a mystery, because there is very little known about DNA strands and what they individually correspond to in terms of mind, body, and emotions.

Question everything you are taught, when you can prove them all wrong with anything, that is how you know your education was not wasted :)

Answer 4

Got into NYU and too lazy to study, eh?

Answer 5

It doesn't have to be smart. It means that we evolved from a common ancestor.

Answer 6

All it means is that there is a strong likelyhood that humans and bonobos are closely related, that they have a recent common ancestor. That's it.

Understanding what comprises the genetic code is a couple of big steps away from being able to manipulate or utilize it. Where do people get the idea that since we've mapped the human genome that we should now be able to cure all these diseases? Who ever said that? It doesn't make any sense.