Human–chimpanzee comparative genome research is essential for narrowing down genetic changes involved in the acquisition of unique human features, such as highly developed cognitive functions, bipedalism or the use of complex language. Here, we report the high-quality DNA sequence of 33.3 megabases of chimpanzee chromosome 22. By comparing the whole sequence with the human counterpart, chromosome 21, we found that 1.44% of the chromosome consists of single-base substitutions in addition to nearly 68,000 insertions or deletions. These differences are sufficient to generate changes in most of the proteins. Indeed, 83% of the 231 coding sequences, including functionally important genes, show differences at the amino acid sequence level. Furthermore, we demonstrate different expansion of particular subfamilies of retrotransposons between the lineages, suggesting different impacts of retrotranspositions on human and chimpanzee evolution. The genomic changes after speciation and their biological consequences seem more complex than originally hypothesized

Abstract. Using the monthly precipitation data at 14 stations from 1961 to 2012, the precipitation trends at the seasonal and annual scales are analyzed using the Mann–Kendall test in the Southeast Tibetan Plateau (STP). The area-averaged precipitation shows an increasing trend in the STP with strong temporal and spatial variations. The seasonal and annual precipitation increased, except in the summer; the annual precipitation increased by about one millimeter pre year over the last 52 years. The spring precipitation significantly increased at the 99% confidence level, while the mean summer precipitation insignificantly decreased at the 95% confidence level. The extreme precipitation, including the maxima and minima, also experienced overall increases. More than 78% of the stations exhibited increases in the annual precipitation (93% in spring). The precipitation variation with elevation was not obvious, but the variation with complex topography was obvious in the STP. The largest precipitation increases and decreases occurred in high-precipitation areas, while the increasing precipitation was dominant in or near the main area of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The results of this study reveal the spatio-temporal variability in the precipitation trends in the STP for the first time. The results are beneficial for understanding the local climate characteristics in the STP and in the entire TP.