Humans, chimpanzees and monkeys share DNA but not gene regulatory mechanisms

http://phys.org/news/2012-11-humans-chimpanzees-monkeys-dna-gene.html

In NOT A CHIMP I try to untangle the conundrum as to how such close relatives as humans and chimpanzees - in terms of genetic sequence - could turn out into such different animals. I suggested that crucial differences in the timing and amount of gene activity are more important than the actual DNA sequence of genes (though there are a good many interesting differences at that level also). I cited the work of Yoav Gilad, at University of Chicago, on gene regulation and he has now done a several species comparison of gene regulation comparing human, chimp and rhesus monkeys. He has discovered that, while 67% of the promotor sequences of genes are equivalent among all three species, over 40% of genes differed with respect to the activity of the gene - the amount it gets transcribed into mRNA and thence protein.