“After more than two decades of work, researchers have achieved a genetics milestone: they have successfully sequenced the complete genomes of six ape species, a feat that seemed impossible just a few years ago.

The results, published today in Nature by a team of 123 researchers spread across multiple nations, are expected to aid ape conservation efforts and advance scientists’ understanding of how humans differ from other apes…

In the past, scientists had deciphered segments of non-human apes’ genomes, but they had never managed to assemble a complete sequence for any species. In the current study, however, Makova and her collaborators used advanced sequencing techniques and algorithms that allowed them to read long segments of DNA and assemble them into a sequence that stretched from one end of each chromosome to the other, without any gaps. ‘This has never been done before,’ says Makova.

Using these techniques, the authors decoded the genomes of six ape species: chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan and siamang gibbon. The scientists discovered between 770 and 1,482 possible new genes for each species. They also found unusual DNA structures lurking in previously inaccessible regions of the genome.”

From Nature.