THE CHROMOSOMES OF MAN AND APES : EVOLUTION AND COMPARISON

This paper presents comparative data on the chromosomes of Man and the great apes. The chromosomes of Homo, Pan, Gorilla, and Pongo have now been studied by a variety of techniques over the last to dacades. Pan,Gorilla and Man share many karyological features indicative of their recent divergence from a common ancestor. A number of alternate hypotheses concerning the exact sequence of speciation events have been examined. Although the chimpanzee is often assumed to be Man’s closest relative, the interpretation of the chromosome data presented here suggests that Man is equally distant from both Gorilla and Pan. This hypothesis should be regarded as tentative, since firm conclusions must await a better understanding of how chromosomes are organized, and how this relates to gene expression.