Human brain evolution: transcripts, metabolites and their regulators

Date

2013-02-01

Author

Somel, Mehmet
Khaitovich, Philipp

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What evolutionary events led to the emergence of human cognition? Although the genetic differences separating modern humans from both non-human primates (for example, chimpanzees) and archaic hominins (Neanderthals and Denisovans) are known, linking human-specific mutations to the cognitive phenotype remains a challenge. One strategy is to focus on human-specific changes at the level of intermediate phenotypes, such as gene expression and metabolism, in conjunction with evolutionary changes in gene regulation involving transcription factors, microRNA and proximal regulatory elements. In this Review we show how this strategy has yielded some of the first hints about the mechanisms of human cognition.

Subject Keywords

CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM, HUMAN LIFE-HISTORY, GENE-EXPRESSION, PREFRONTAL CORTEX, POSITIVE SELECTION, PRIMATE BRAIN, MOLECULAR EVOLUTION, GLUCOSE-METABOLISM, NATURAL-SELECTION, HUMAN UNIQUENESS

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/40619

Journal

NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3372

Collections

Department of Biology, Article

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Rapid metabolic evolution in human prefrontal cortex Fu, Xing; Giavalisco, Patrick; Liu, Xiling; Catchpole, Gareth; Fu, Ning; Ning, Zhi-Bin; Guo, Song; Yan, Zheng; Somel, Mehmet; Paeaebo, Svante; Zeng, Rong; Willmitzer, Lothar; Khaitovich, Philipp (2011-04-12) Human evolution is characterized by the rapid expansion of brain size and drastic increase in cognitive capabilities. It has long been suggested that these changes were accompanied by modifications of brain metabolism. Indeed, human-specific changes on gene expression or amino acid sequence were reported for a number of metabolic genes, but actual metabolite measurements in humans and apes have remained scarce. Here, we investigate concentrations of more than 100 metabolites in the prefrontal and cerebellar...
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Citation Formats

M. Somel and P. Khaitovich, “Human brain evolution: transcripts, metabolites and their regulators,” NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE, pp. 112–127, 2013, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/40619.