HARs exhibit enhancer operate in excitatory neurons. Credit score: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08622-x
How did people evolve brains able to advanced language, civilization, and extra? The reply might lie in distinctive DNA. Scientists at UC San Francisco have discovered that components of our chromosomes have advanced at breakneck speeds to provide us an edge in mind growth in comparison with apes. Nevertheless it may additionally put us in danger for uniquely human mind problems.
The research seems in Nature.
The analysis targeted on components of chromosomes generally known as human accelerated areas (HARs), which have advanced most quickly since people break up from chimpanzees on the evolutionary tree—altering 10 instances sooner than the anticipated fee of evolution in mammals.
The scientists, led by Yin Shen, Ph.D., professor within the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences and the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics, studied the consequences of HARs in synthetic neurons derived from human and chimpanzee cell strains.
The human and chimpanzee genomes are 99% related. HARs make up an enormous portion of the 1% distinction, which may result in dramatically totally different outcomes in human and chimp neurons in petri dishes. The human neurons grew a number of neurites, wiry projections that assist the nerve cells ship and obtain alerts. However the chimp neurons solely grew single neurites. When human HARs had been engineered into synthetic chimp neurons, the chimp neurons grew many extra of those wires.
“More neurites during development could mean more complexity in our neural networks,” Shen stated. “These networks facilitate the transmission of signals in the nervous system and support our higher cognitive functions. But disruptions in their development may contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.”
Extra info:
Xiekui Cui et al, Comparative characterization of human accelerated areas in neurons, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08622-x
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Human chromosomes advanced at hyperspeed to provide us higher brains, however there is a catch (2025, February 26)
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