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We share 99% of our genes with the chimpanzee. Why then are we so dissimilar to that animal? Other animals with very similar characteristics have genes with many fewer shared genes. Scientists tell us that it's due to our rapid, almost explosive evolution that we are so closely related, but so unlike the other primates.
Genetic mapping has been going on since the late 1980's. In the spring of 1998 a highly unusual gene was found. This gene, number 2593 on chromosome 14, was unlike any others so far mapped. All genes that had been discovered up to this date were made up of twenty amino acids arranged in varying orders. This gene employs an amino acid unlike any seen on the earth. It's function is so far unclear, but it seems to be associated with brain development and higher learning. Where did the amino acid originate? It does not appear in any of the other primates. Indeed, it does not show up anywhere else in nature. An amino acid of this type cannot simply evolve. It would be destroyed by our bodily defenses unless our immune systems were altered to accept it as our own.
A highly respected researcher has a controversial theory to explain the origin of this gene (see next page). This theory, while unproven, has certain merit. When combined with the other findings of the Millennium Institute, the theory gives credence to our final conclusion.
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