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1 February 2013 Chromosome Connections: Compelling Clues to Common Ancestry
Larry Flammer
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Abstract

Students compare banding patterns on hominid chromosomes and see striking evidence of their common ancestry. To test this, human chromosome no. 2 is matched with two shorter chimpanzee chromosomes, leading to the hypothesis that human chromosome 2 resulted from the fusion of the two shorter chromosomes. Students test that hypothesis by looking for (and finding) DNA evidence of telomere segments at the fusion site, thus reinforcing the likelihood of our common ancestry with chimps and showing that we all carry the molecular fossils of telomere fusion! Students see how multiple lines of evidence make a compelling case for common ancestry.

©2013 by National Association of Biology Teachers. All rights reserved. Request permission to photocopy or reproduce article content at the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions Web site at www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp.
Larry Flammer "Chromosome Connections: Compelling Clues to Common Ancestry," The American Biology Teacher 75(2), 108-113, (1 February 2013). https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2013.75.2.7
Published: 1 February 2013
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KEYWORDS
common ancestry
DNA fusion
Hominid chromosomes
hypotheses tested
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