quote:
The problem with the 98.5% similarity between humans and chimp was that it was based on DNA hybridisation, since that was the only method available at the time
That is partly true - there were direct DNA sequence comparisons available at the time of the publication of the hybridization paper implicated (Sibley and Ahlquist) that produced similar results. The S&A paper gained a lot of attention because it employed the entire single-copy genome and its authors were accused of fudging their data.
Multiple publications came out after that fracas all indicating similar numbers.
Some pre-hybridisation papers:
Chimpanzee Fetal G-gamma and A-gamma Globin Gene Nucleotide Sequences Provide Further Evidence of Gene Conversions in Hominine Evolution.
Slightom et al., 1985
Mol Biol Evol 2(5):370-389.
This paper found a 1.4-2.25% nucleotide difference, depending on
which sets of alleles are compared.(1.8 kilobases). That is
97.75-98.6% identity.
Primate Eta-Globin DNA and Man's Place Among the Great Apes. Koop et
al., 1986.
Nature 319:234-238.
This paper found a 1.7% distance measured by direct comparison of
aligned nucleotide sequences (2.2 kilobases in a pseudogene). That is 98.3%.
Just one paper of many post-dating it that come to similar conclusions:
A Molecular View of Primate Supraordinal Relationships from the
Analysis of Both Nucleotide and Amino Acid Sequences. Stanhope et
al., 1993. In Primates and Their Relatives in Phylogenetic
Perspective. MacPhee, ed.
This book chapter discusses Epsilon globin gene, (~4 kilobases), 1.1%. That is 98.9% identity
™ Version 4.2
