Using an ANOVA and permutation test, we find significant expression level differences among mice fed the four diets in liver, but not in brain (one-sided permutation test p<0.001 and p = 0.16, respectively Table S2). We fed four groups of six 8-week-old female mice one of four diets ad libidum: first, the mouse pellet diet on which they were raised second, a diet consisting of vegetables, fruit and yogurt identical to the diet fed to chimpanzees in our ape facility third, a diet consisting of cooked food eaten in our Institute's cafeteria fourth, a diet consisting exclusively of McDonald's fast food ( Table S1).Īfter two weeks, we examined gene expression in liver and brain. Finally, we show that the rate of evolution of genes affected by diet in both the rodents and the primates is higher than for average genes in the human and chimpanzee genomes. Here, we use laboratory mice to analyze, first, to what extent human and chimpanzee diets induce differences in gene expression, and, second, whether such differences may be similar to gene expression differences seen between humans and chimpanzees. This leaves model organisms, such as rodents, as one of the few tools available where functional manipulations may allow differences between humans and other primates to be analyzed with respect to their environmental or genetic causes. Generally, the gap between genomic and phenotypic features is particularly difficult to bridge when studying traits fixed among humans, since most experimental approaches cannot be applied to humans or higher primates. Īlthough gene expression differences between humans and chimpanzees in multiple tissues have been described –, the role of dietary differences on these expression differences awaits investigation. That diets can cause genetic adaptations is illustrated by lactase persistence in dairying populations and higher copy numbers of the amylase gene in groups consuming starch-rich foods. It is plausible that different diets result are correlated with physiological states in humans and chimpanzees and that such states may be physiological responses in the individual to different dietary contents as well as genetically fixed evolutionary adaptations to dietary differences (e.g. The human diet, despite a multiplicity of local idiosyncrasies, consistently differs from those of other primates in such aspects as high caloric and protein content as well as cooking, i.e. One example of a cultural difference between humans and chimpanzees is diet. This raises the question of how much of the phenotypic differences observed between humans and other primates are caused by such non-genetic differences. However, beyond DNA sequence differences between humans and other primates, such as the chimpanzee, these species experience large environmental and cultural differences. Genome sequences from humans and closely related primate species are collected at an increasing rate with the hope of gaining insights into the genetic underpinnings of the human phenotype. None of these institutions played any direct or indirect role in in the design and conduct of the study, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Author HC was supported by a German-American Fullbright Commission fellowship. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: The study was financially supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Society and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung of Germany. Received: SeptemAccepted: DecemPublished: January 30, 2008Ĭopyright: © 2008 Somel et al. PLoS ONE 3(1):Īcademic Editor: Laszlo Orban, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore (2008) Human and Chimpanzee Gene Expression Differences Replicated in Mice Fed Different Diets. Citation: Somel M, Creely H, Franz H, Mueller U, Lachmann M, Khaitovich P, et al.
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