To investigate the genetic factors that drove anthropoid primate evolution, researchers have identified 23,949 anthropoid-specific constrained (ASC) regions in the genome. ASC regions are enriched in loci previously associated with brain development, vision and neurotransmission; notably, almost all of these regions are non-coding. In addition, more than half of the ASC regions are linked to transposable elements, thus providing further clues to the evolution of anthropoid-specific traits.
References
del Rosario, R. C. H., Arul Rayan, N. & Prabhakar, S. Noncoding origins of anthropoid traits and a new null model of transposon functionalization. Genome Res. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/gr.168963.113 (2014)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jones, B. Homing in on anthropoid evolution. Nat Rev Genet 15, 575 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3812
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3812