I believe many friends know that when scientists are studying and exploring the mysteries of life, especially on the way of studying the mysteries of the human body, many life experiments are carried out on mice first. Some new drugs, etc., often need to be tested on mice first, and then they can be applied to human clinically after confirming that there is no problem.
Why do scientists perform many biological experiments on mice? In fact, the reason is not complicated. The main reason is that the genes of mice are very similar to humans. According to the research of scientists, the genes of mice are more than 85% similar to those of humans. Seeing this, many people will have this question: Since the genes of mice are so similar to those of humans, why are they completely different from humans?
We must know that the genetic similarity between chimpanzees and humans has reached 95%. Although there are many differences in appearance from humans, chimpanzees look like humans, but mice do not even have basic humans. Why? All of these mysteries we still need to start from the core mystery of life. I believe friends all know that DNA is an important genetic material for humans, and DNA is composed of deoxyribonucleotides.
Deoxyribonucleotides include: phosphoric acid, deoxyribose, bases, and hydrogen bonds. And in these compositions, what determines the genetic information is the sequence of base pairs. The human body has more than 3 billion base pairs, and there are countless permutations and combinations of so many base pairs. To put it simply, there are more than 3 billion base pairs, which determine a person’s genetic information through different arrangements.
This is similar to the computer program editing of human science and technology. The basic symbols of computer programs are actually not many, but these basic conformities have been combined into complex computer programs through various permutations and combinations. Even artificial intelligence is just a combination of limited basic conformance. Comparing the basic symbols of computer language with the more than 3 billion base pairs in human DNA, that is the difference between heaven and earth, which is completely incomparable.
This shows how complicated life is, especially advanced beings like human beings are incredibly complicated. Among the more than 3 billion base pairs, not all of them will show up in you. There are many base pairs that are useless and do not show up in you, such as scales, tails, etc. Among them, the useful base pair sequence can be formed into various proteins through processes such as transcription and translation, and the shape of the human being is realized through proteins.
In other words, the appearance and length of human beings are all determined by the protein formed by the arrangement of base pairs. Among the more than 3 billion base pairs in humans, only a small part of the difference between humans is used, and most of the genetic code is the same.
If the human genetic code can be printed, there are about 262,000 papers, of which only 500 are yours alone, and the others are owned by humans. Don’t underestimate this small proportion of 500 sheets. The difference between people is reflected in these small 500 sheets of genetic information. Therefore, the genetic confidence of everyone in the world can reach 99.99%.
If someone’s genes are less than 99.99% similar to others, then this person may not be a human being. More boldly, this person may be the intelligent life of an alien civilization. As long as it is human, even if there is no blood relationship, even if it is a yellow race or a black race, their genetic similarity is also 99.99%.
The main reason why mouse genes and human genes can reach 85% is that humans and mice have a common ancestor 100 million years ago. I believe that many of my friends understand that mice and humans are essentially mammals. One hundred million years ago, at that time was the era when dinosaurs dominated the earth. Although mammals were also born, in the era when dinosaurs dominated, they could only survive.
At that time, mammals, the common ancestor of humans and mice, could only move out at night. At that time, the biological world was a weak creature at the bottom of the biological chain. It wasn’t until the ecological changes happened later that the dinosaurs began to become extinct, at this time mammals ushered in the spring and began to develop rapidly.
It was also at this time that the ancestors of humans and the ancestors of mice began to separate. Later, with the movement of plates and natural environmental factors, the genetic gap between the two became larger and larger, until they became completely different species. Although humans and mice have become different species, there are many similarities between humans and mice in protein-coding genes. The 85% genetic similarity tells us that humans and mice have a common ancestor in ancient times.
It is such a huge similarity that still makes a huge difference in appearance between mice and humans. Only when mammals like chimpanzees are genetically similar to humans at 95%, can they have appearances similar to humans. It can be seen that for any species to have a similar appearance to humans, the genetic similarity must reach more than 95%.
In fact, all species on the earth now have a common ancestor if they trace their roots, so the genetic similarity between life on earth is not low. Even for plants like bananas, its genes are 50% similar to humans. It can be seen that although the external manifestations of life on earth are different, the internal genes have many similarities.
It is precisely because the genes of mice are very similar to those of humans that when scientists conduct various biological experiments, mice have become good experimental objects. Although mice are small, they are very clever little animals. Of course, mice are not popular with people. They are too destructive.
Moreover, with the continuous advancement of human technology and the rapid development of genetic technology, scientists have begun to inject part of human genes into mice in order to study the mysteries of the human body. If this is the case, it is possible that in the future, wisdom mice will appear in the laboratory. If the mice have wisdom, it is not good news for humans.