Of all species in the world, humans and chimpanzees are among the few to coordinate attacks on their own kind.
[A] collaboration of South Korean and American scientists shows, in a new paper published in PLOS Genetics Thursday, that war is in our genes – humans and chimps. Not in other apes. Apparently it’s no coincidence that the chimp is our closest relative: we share about 99 percent of our DNA.
Macaques, for example, and some bonobos – a subspecies of chimp deeply devoted to peaceful sex – lack these genetic variants.
The change in humans and chimps is in a gene, called ADRA2C, which regulates the fight-or-flight response.
Technically, ADRA2C dulls the response but chimps and humans produce a molecule called NRSF that inhibits ADRA2C. So, all in all, the fight-or-flight response is increased.
Such epigenetic changes are not mutations, which are changes to the DNA. These are changes in genetic expression caused by molecules that bind to DNA. The epigenetic “markers” regulate the expression of the genes – and, crucially, they can be inherited. If an epigenetic change turned off one of your genes, it may be off in your kids too.
Source: Chimps and Humans Are Genetically Prone to War, New Study Says – Science & Health – Haaretz.com