CHROMOSOME 2
- 17 hours ago
- 4 min read
Every great ape on Earth has 48 chromosomes. Chimpanzees. Gorillas. Orangutans. Bonobos. 48. Every single one. Humans have 46. Somewhere in the lineage that became us, two chromosomes fused into one. Chromosome 2, the second largest in the human genome, is the result of two ancestral ape chromosomes being joined end to end. We know this because the evidence is written in the chromosome itself. Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, like the plastic tips on shoelaces. They only appear at the ends. But human chromosome 2 has telomeric DNA in the middle. Right at the fusion point. Exactly where two ends were joined together.