For over ten years, scientists have been able to compare and contrast the genomes of over 200 mammals with humans. Mammals are known to be one of the most diverse classes of animals. It has been about two decades since some scientists made the rough draft of the human genome. Scientists today still have difficulty deciphering the genome. By uncovering this evolution of the genome for over 100 million years, there is something called the Zoonomia project.
The Zoonomia project is an international project that uncovers the genomic traits of mammals. Zoonomia uses DNA sequence technology to comprehend how genomes create a huge amount of diversity. The name Zoonomia comes from the Greek words that mean "animal" and "governing laws". The word Zoonomia first appeared in 1794, by Erasmus Darwin, who was the grandfather of Charles Darwin. Erasmus Darwin has a book titled "Zoonomia; or Laws of Organic Life".
This is a picture of a human DNA strand using transmission electron microscopy.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/science/human-dna-genomes.html
https://zoonomiaproject.org/the-project/
I didn’t realize how much we could learn about human DNA just by comparing it to animals as different as cheetahs, armadillos, and whales. The Zoonomia Project basically looks at over 200 mammal genomes, helping scientists trace how our DNA has changed over more than 100 million years. I also thought it was interesting that the name “Zoonomia” goes all the way back to Erasmus Darwin. It’s a good reminder that even though we mapped the human genome decades ago, there’s still so much we don’t fully understand.
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