Genomic variation of the great apes and the application to conservation

The great apes all share the same fate of being threatened by extinction within the present century. Therefore innovative conservation genetics efforts are needed in order to gain in-depth knowledge about the gene dynamics of our closest living relatives, and to help find ways to avoid their extinction. Recently, novel technologies have made it possible to exploit whole genome sequences and we now have access to full genome variation at the population scale, which should result in novel applications for conservation genetics. In this review, some of the main findings from the last 5 years of intense research on great ape genomic variation will be summarized, and current and future endeavours to apply this knowledge to assist global great ape conservation efforts will be discussed.