Tasks.

Task1. Match the words in column A to their explanations in column B

A                          B   

1. insights                    a contiguous length of genomic sequence.

          2. effort                  a structure composed of contigs and gaps.

          3. bias                    to make something do something by dealing with it in a slow and careful way

          4. from scratch     an accurate and deep understanding

5. contiguous        unchanging over a period of time, uniform , steady

6. nebulous             to try very hard to do something, work

7. to distinguish      to explain

8. to coax                  to seem

9. to account for     fail to notice

10. dissimilarities    from the very beginning,

11. consistent           vague and not clearly defined

12. to appear            a result or effect

13. to undergo          to differentiate (between)

14. prone to                 sharing a common border; touching

15. consequence       a tendency to prefer one thing to another, and to favour that thing.

16. to overlook           to go through , experience 

17.scaffold                    differences

 Task2. Say if the following is true, false or not mentioned.

1.  The discovery concentrates on the genetic differences which appeared when humans and apes went their own ways.

2.  Scientists established that the extent of DNA sequence difference is on the order of 1.6%.

3.  The existence of the differences became immediately evident once a comparative analysis of their genomes was made.

4.  The latest research gives an exhaustive list of genetic variants which appeared or disappeared in different apes all of which show the differences between humans and apes genomes.

5.  These differences account for different food they eat, their body structure and the way their brain was formed.

6.  Scientists discovered that chimpanzees and humans shared a common ancestor only 4.6–6.2 million years ago.

7.  Chimps’ smaller brain volume, which is three times less than human brain volume, may be due to differences in gene expression during brain formation in humans and chimps.

8.  High resolution, comparative analysis of great ape genome assemblies helps us understand how great apes evolved.

9.  Other discoveries reported in this Science paper come from an investigation into the origin of a fossil virus, similar to present day retroviruses, that is thought to be present in the genome of all African apes.

10. The retroviruses which developed from the above virus are typical of modern apes, only.

Task3. Answer the following questions.

1.  Why is it so important that new, higher-quality assemblies of great ape genomes which have been generated were not based on the human reference genome?

2.  How can the newly assembled genomes be used?

3.  What prevented functional differences that distinguish humans from other apes from being discovered when their genomes were first compared?

4.  How was the problem solved?

5.  What was the purpose of creating organoids?

6.  What did they reveal?

7.  How do you understand a” less is more” hypothesis?

8.  What happened to the genomes African great apes’ ancestors?

9.  What did the changes result in?

10. How did the human genome change in the process of evolution?

11. Can we say that ape genomes are fully understood? Why? Why not?

Task4.Choose the right option.

1.  . Those genes are more likely to have lost segments of DNA specifically in the human branch important in regulating their expression.

a.  It is more likely that those genes are losing segments of DNA specifically in the human branch important in regulating their expression.

b.  There are more chances that segments of DNA specifically in the human branch important in regulating their expression lost those genes.

c.  It is more likely that those genes and segments of DNA specifically in the human branch important in regulating their expression lost each other.

d.  There are greater chances that those genes lost segments of DNA specifically in the human branch important in regulating their expression

2.  On the other hand, certain human genes appear to be linked to up-regulation for neural progenitors and excitatory neurons in the nervous system

a.  On the other hand, certain human genes appeared from regulation for neural progenitors and excitatory neurons in the nervous system

b.  It seems ,on the other hand, that certain human genes are linked to up-regulation for neural progenitors and excitatory neurons in the nervous system.

c.  On the other hand, it appears that certain human genes were linked to up-regulation for neural progenitors and excitatory neurons in the nervous system

d.  On the other hand, up-regulation for neural progenitors and excitatory neurons in the nervous system seem to be linked to certain human genes.

3.  Modern day chimpanzees and gorillas carry hundreds of PtERV1 retroviral insertions that appear to have originated from this source that never made it into the human genome

a.  Modern day chimpanzees and gorillas carry hundreds of PtERV1 retroviral insertions that it seems appeared from this source and found themselves in the human genome.

b.  Modern day chimpanzees and gorillas carry hundreds of PtERV1 retroviral insertions that seem to have appeared in the human genome.

c.  The human genome carries hundreds of PtERV1 retroviral insertions that appear to have originated from chimpanzees and gorillas.

d. Modern day chimpanzees and gorillas carry hundreds of PtERV1 retroviral insertions that seem to have come from this source that never made it into the human genome