Watch: Rare Form Of Alzheimer's Sheds Light On Disease

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Bonobo Genome Sheds Light on Their Links to Chimps, Humans

HealthDay – 4 mins 26 secs ago WEDNESDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists who have completed the genome of the bonobo say their research will provide insights into the species' evolutionary relationships with other great apes and with humans.

The bonobo is the last of the great apes to have its genome sequenced. Other great apes include the chimpanzee, orangutan and gorilla.

Bonobos and chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans. But in contrast to the more aggressive chimpanzees, bonobos are known for their peaceful, playful behavior.

The bonobo genome was sequenced from a female named Ulindi who lives at the Leipzig zoo in Germany. The results show that bonobos and chimpanzees differ genetically by about 0.4 percent, while both bonobos and chimpanzees differ from humans by about 1.3 percent.

The study, by Kay Prufer and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, is published in the June 13 online edition of the journal Nature.

Bonobo and chimpanzee territories in central Africa are separated only by the Congo River. It's been theorized that the formation of the river separated the ancestors of chimpanzees and bonobos, leading to distinct species. This hypothesis is supported by a comparison of the bonobo and chimpanzee genomes, which shows an apparent clean split and no subsequent interbreeding.

While the average genomes of bonobos and chimpanzees are equally distant from the human genome, humans are closer to bonobos in some regions and closer to chimpanzees in others.

Further research will determine whether these genome regions influence the behavioral differences and similarities between humans, chimpanzees and bonobos, the study authors said.

More information

The Great Ape Trust has more about bonobos.

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Mouse Study Sheds Light on How Diet May Affect Epilepsy

HealthDay – 32 mins ago WEDNESDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) -- It's long been known that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet can reduce epileptic seizures that resist drug therapy, and now researchers studying mice say they think they know why.

The results of their research in mice suggest that resistance to seizures among people who eat what's called a ketogenic diet is linked to a protein that modifies cellular metabolism in the brain.

The findings, reported in the May 24 issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to the development of new treatments for epilepsy, according to the researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

"The connection between metabolism and epilepsy has been such a puzzle," study co-leader Gary Yellen, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, said in a Harvard news release. "I've met a lot of kids whose lives are completely changed by this diet. It's amazingly effective, and it works for many kids for whom drugs don't work."

In tests with mice, the researchers found that modifying the BCL-2-associated agonist of cell death protein led to altered brain metabolism and protected against seizures.

"Diet sounds like this wholesome way to treat seizures, but it's very hard. I mean, diets in general are hard, and this diet is really hard," Yellen said. "So finding a pharmacological substitute for this would make lots of people really happy."

While the findings hold promise, experts note that research involving animals frequently fails to lead to benefits for humans.

More information

The Epilepsy Foundation has more about the ketogenic diet.

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