Editor's Summary
14 September 2006
The human factor
What makes humans unique? A comparative genetics approach to this question reveals a candidate gene for a part in bestowing 'humanness'. Interestingly, the gene is expressed during embryonic development of the neocortex, the site of many of the brain's most sophisticated processes. The gene emerged from a scan for non-coding genomic regions that remained mostly unchanged up to the point of the chimp/human evolutionary split, but which then underwent accelerated evolution in humans. One of the most rapidly evolving genomic regions in the human lineage corresponds to a previously unstudied RNA gene, dubbed HAR1F. Gene expression studies then showed that HAR1F is active in cells called Cajal-Retzius neurons during the crucial period of gestation, when many of the nerve cells of the neocortex are establishing their functions within the brain.
News and Views: Evolutionary biology: Human brain gene wins genome race
The differences in brain size and function that separate humans from other mammals must be reflected in our genomes. It seems that the non-coding 'dark matter' of genomes harbours most of these vital changes.
Chris P. Ponting and Gerton Lunter
doi:10.1038/nature05154
Article: An RNA gene expressed during cortical development evolved rapidly in humans
Katherine S. Pollard, Sofie R. Salama, Nelle Lambert, Marie-Alexandra Lambot, Sandra Coppens, Jakob S. Pedersen, Sol Katzman, Bryan King, Courtney Onodera, Adam Siepel, Andrew D. Kern, Colette Dehay, Haller Igel, Manuel Ares, Jr, Pierre Vanderhaeghen and David Haussler
doi:10.1038/nature05113
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (449K) | Supplementary information
