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From: sbishop@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Man vs Woman vs Chimp DNA Percentages
Message-ID: <1263.26fb775e@desire.wright.edu>
Date: 22 Sep 90 19:38:22 GMT
References: <1803@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu> <68103@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> 
 <7713@milton.u.washington.edu>,<999@massey.ac.nz> <0093D12D.0754D500@wystan.bsd.uchicago.edu>
Lines: 32

In article <0093D12D.0754D500@wystan.bsd.uchicago.edu>, dan@wystan.bsd.uchicago.edu writes:
> In article <999@massey.ac.nz>, AChamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove) writes:
>>Over the past few years, there has been a lot of debate on the following
>>question: 
>>If chimps and humans are so close genetically, then why can we not make
>>hybrids?  Of course a lot of people say that we can and could.  Others
>>say that there are incompatibilites, but no one I have encountered has
>>been able to specify what those incompatibilites are. Can you?
>>arnold
> 
> 	Putting aside chromosome number for a minute . . . .
> 
> 	What about immunological differences?  I know that the placenta is an 
> "immunologically priveledged" site, but there's probably enough differnce 
> between human and chimp histocompatability antigens to cause some sort of 
> rejection response to the fetus.  Sort of an Rh reaction from hell.
> 


This argument makes more sense to me than the chromosome problem.  I do
remember reading a while back about experiments in crossing cattle and bison. 
Evidently the researcher found that some type of incompatibility between cattle
and bison caused the cow who was carrying the hybrid calf to produce increasing
amounts of amniotic fluid which ultimately killed the calf.  I would think
though, in the time of much research in repressing immunological responses in
people who have had organ transplants that this could be overcome.  Besides,
supposedly someone did manage to come up with beefalos a few years ago.  

I can see all kinds of hostile reactions against the experiment.  After all, it
would be the ultimate proof against creationists wouldn't it?  How could they
deny our relationship to the rest of nature if chimps turned out to be our
genetic brothers?