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Brief Communication

Nature Genetics 36, 1061–1063 (1 October 2004) | doi:10.1038/ng1431

Birth and adaptive evolution of a hominoid gene that supports high neurotransmitter flux

Fabien Burki & Henrik Kaessmann

The enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is important for recycling the chief excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate, during neurotransmission. Human GDH exists in housekeeping and brain-specific isotypes encoded by the genes GLUD1 and GLUD2, respectively.