The last ape genome sequence - that of the lowland gorilla - was published today by a research team in Cambridge.
The researchers hope their work will finally reveal the genetic mutations that led humans to develop higher functions such as language and culture.
The article, published today in Nature, confirms that chimpanzees are our closest
relatives, sharing 99 per cent of our DNA.
Gorillas share
98 per cent and orangutans 97 per cent, reflecting the evolutionary timeline of apes in the pattern the researchers had expected.
However, this new research shows human separation from common ancestors occurring earlier than previously thought, which challenges some widely held evolutionary theories.
Researchers hope that by comparing shared genetic mutations with those developed after a split in lineage they may uncover the genetic basis of 'higher reasoning' in humans.
Read the full research article by Scally et al, published in Nature on 7th March 2012: Insights into hominid evolution from the gorilla genome sequence
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