The genes of mice and humans are 99% similar, but why are they so different from humans?

The similarity between mouse genes and human genes is not 99%, but it still seems to be 90%. As for what is 99% similar to human genes, it is chimpanzees.

First of all, there is no problem that there are certain similarities between human and mouse genes. After all, people and mice have a common ancestor, that is mammals, but that was hundreds of millions of years ago. Today, mice and humans have developed very differently. The ancestors of humans and chimpanzees were both apes, a little more recently, millions of years ago, so it makes sense that chimpanzees and humans have higher genetic similarity.

In fact, there is nothing to make a fuss about, because not only humans and mice, but also humans and other mammals have more than 90% genetic similarity. Compared with primates, the genetic similarity is generally above 96%. But then again, even so, what does that mean? As the saying goes, "One misstep makes an everlasting regret." The gap between human and mouse genes 10% is enough to make people and mice develop into completely different species. Even chimpanzees and humans have 99% similarity, only 1% difference. Isn't that a far cry from human beings?

If we want to find the common ground between humans and mice, we may have to go back hundreds of millions of years. Both humans and mice are mammals, and the earliest evolution of mammals was 65.438+600 million years ago. Many people think that mammals evolved after the extinction of dinosaurs. In fact, as early as the Jurassic period, mammals began to develop, and so far, 654.38+600 million years have passed. Humans, like all other mammals, originally originated from primitive mammals, which are like the foundation of a big tree. Since then, on this basis, the mammalian family has grown up little by little.

When this big tree grows up, it constantly divides into various branches, and humans and mice are no longer on the same trunk. With the progress of time, people and mice have become more and more different. It is generally believed that primitive apes are the early differentiation points of human beings. About 6 million years ago, modern orangutans and humans parted ways. After years of self-evolution, the genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees is only about 1%, which has formed such a big difference in appearance and intelligence, not to mention the difference of 10%, which is too far away.