Saturday, November 22, 2014

Genomics at the corner of explain evolution of human brain

Scientist at the University of Colorado say that they are inching ever closer to dissecting and explaining the evolutionary genomics of the human brain. By sequencing the DNA of animals related to humans and locating the genes responsible for brain growth and development researchers are moving closer to the cusp of the how the human brain came to be. Aside from lack of anthropological technique, the complete sequence of of a human can't tell us all we need to know about the human brain. In fact, just trying to pinpoint all the genes responsible for the brain itself has proven to be a difficult task. The researchers are using marmoset because they are primates that operate in social groups and are able to be handled with relative ease.

The last few years scientist have been able to identify more sections responsible towards brain development in the marmosets but genes relating directly to social and cognitive portion of the brain are still unknown. According to the research there has been a couple of studies on proteins that play a role in the synapse and altered forms of the gene SRGAP2 are found in humans and Neanderthals and not the marmoset. This suggest the gene plays a new role.


Hopefully this research will continue to flourish and provide us with new information as to how the pivotal standing difference (the brain) of humans and other primate came to be. I would personally like to undergo this specific research itself if possible.

Main article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140709095342.htm

Related article: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/science-spotlights/evolution-what%E2%80%99s-uniquely-human-about-human-brain#.VHE8BvnF83m

2 comments:

  1. I am in a class now that taking about human evolution and one of the major topics is the increase in brain size that is seen throughout evolution. The professor has given us many reasons, such as the need to hunt, social organization, adaptability, and many other reasons, as to why an increase in brain size is seen. We have never mentioned anything related to what genes are responsible for the increase in brain size. I think more research into this topic would give many people useful information that would explain a lot about human evolution, since an increase in brain size is a trend seen in human ancestors.

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  2. It'll be interesting to see what discoveries are made about the brain over the next few decades as technology becomes more and more advanced. Many things about it are still unknown and finding out more information can help combat the diseases that can plague the brain.

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