What made humans 'the fat primate'?

phys.org ^ | 06/26/2019 | Robin A. Smith, Duke University

[BenLurkin]

While other primates have less than 9% body fat, a healthy range for humans is anywhere from 14% to 31%.

Using a technique called ATAC-seq, they scanned each species' genome for differences in how their fat cell DNA is packaged.

Normally most of the DNA within a cell is condensed into coils and loops and tightly wound around proteins, such that only certain DNA regions are loosely packed enough to be accessible to the cellular machinery that turns genes on and off.

The researchers identified roughly 780 DNA regions that were accessible in chimps and macaques, but had become more bunched up in humans. Examining these regions in detail, the team also noticed a recurring snippet of DNA that helps convert fat from one cell type to another.

Not all fat is created equal... Most fat is made up of calorie-storing white fat. It's what makes up the marbling in a steak and builds up around our waistlines.

Specialized fat cells called beige and brown fat, on the other hand, can burn calories rather than store them to generate heat and keep us warm.

One of the reasons we're so fat, the research suggests, … is because the regions of the genome that help turn white fat to brown were essentially locked up...in humans but not in chimps.

Humans, like chimps, need fat to cushion vital organs, insulate us from the cold, and buffer us from starvation. But early humans may have needed to plump up for another reason, the researchers say—as an additional source of energy to fuel our growing, hungry brains.

The human brain uses more energy, pound for pound, than any other tissue. Steering fat cells toward calorie-storing white fat rather than calorie-burning brown fat, the thinking goes, would have given our ancestors a survival advantage.

[GnuThere]

You’re right. I should have said, “I’ve never SEEN a monkey drive to Krispy Kreme - yet.”

[ViLaLuz]

We don’t have fur like animals.

[gr8eman]

1. (prī′māt′) Any of various mammals of the order Primates, which consists of the lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes including humans, and is characterized by nails on the hands and feet, a short snout, and a large brain.

So you're saying I am an ape? So I'm no different from a lemur or monkey?! Like I said...speak for yourself! Show me a lemur who has earned an EE degree and we'll talk!

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

“Show me a lemur who has earned an EE degree and we’ll talk!”

Do you know sign language?

There a chimps that do.

If you don’t know sign language I am saying that you are dumber than a chimp.

he he he he

[gr8eman]

Okay Chim Chim!

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

So you don’t know sign language? My point stands. You are hereby ordered to watch the original “Planet of the Apes (1968)” as punishment and as a primer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjcpRHuPjOI