Make way for monkeys

摘要

Rhesus macaques cant claim the distinction of being humanity's closest cousins, nor of ever having been popularized by Jane Goodall. But the newly completed analysis of the macaques genome could prove just as important as that of the chimpanzee's, scientists say. Macaca mulatta is the third primate genome to be sequenced, following those for humans (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Adding the macaque to that picture, scientists say, should allow researchers to make better sense of the other two genomes. And because the rhesus macaque is the main monkey model for many diseases, understanding its genome could help to clarify why some diseases develop, and why some treatments work differently in monkeys from in humans.