Scientists have for the first time decoded a Chimpanzee chromosome and compared it to its human counterpart.

An international group of 40 scientists, including those from South Korea, sought to look for signs of genetic changes in the chromosomes that would help in the acquisition of human characteristics, including bipedal mobility and linguistic usage.

They compared chromosome 22 of the chimpanzee with its human counterpart, chromosome 21. The researchers said that their work has shown that the mutations and biological consequences that took place after chimpanzees and humans became separate species are more complicated than previously thought.

They found that the two differ in only 1.4 percent of the DNA bases that the two chromosomes have in common, a miniscule difference that confirms earlier estimates.

However, given that each gene contains hundreds or thousands of bases, even that tiny difference in chromosomes is enough to change the amino acid sequence of 83 percent of the proteins generated by the 231 genes on the chromosome.