New Study Highlights Role of Gene Expression in Human Brain Evolution

New Study Highlights Role of Gene Expression in Human Brain Evolution

University of California, Santa Barbara’s Professor Soojin Yi and colleagues aimed to determine how genes in different types of brain cells have evolved compared to those in chimpanzees. They found that, while our genes code for almost all the same proteins as other apes, many of our genes are much more productive than those of other primates.

Differential gene expression in the human brain compared to nonhuman primate brains is a key molecular feature of human evolution. Joshy et al. show that differential gene expression of human brains encompasses highly divergent sets of cell-type-specific changes. Despite such cellular diversity, human brain cells have experienced a general increase of gene expression rather than a decrease of gene expression. The authors reveal specific functional programs that have experienced differential expression in different cell types and genomic and epigenomic features that correlate with such changes.

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