ArticlePLoS biology2011
Accelerated recruitment of new brain development genes into the human genome.
Article in PLoS biology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 173 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Evolutionarily new genes in humans with disease phenotypes reveal functional enrichment patterns shaped by adaptive innovation and sexual selection.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Evolutionarily new genes in humans with disease phenotypes reveal functional enrichment patterns shaped by adaptive innovation and sexual selection.Research square · 2023Article
- Evolution and implications of de novo genes in humans.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Review
- Human gene age dating reveals an early and rapid evolutionary construction of the adaptive immune system.Genome biology and evolution · 2023Article
- A Human-Specific De Novo Gene Promotes Cortical Expansion and Folding.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2023Article
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- De novo genes with an lncRNA origin encode unique human brain developmental functionality.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- Structural neuroimaging phenotypes and associated molecular and genomic underpinnings in autism: a review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Pan-cancer surveys indicate cell cycle-related roles of primate-specific genes in tumors and embryonic cerebrum.Genome biology · 2022Article
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
How the human brain evolved has attracted tremendous interests for decades. Motivated by case studies of primate-specific genes implicated in brain function, we examined whether or not the young genes, those emerging genome-wide in the lineages specific to the primates or rodents, showed distinct spatial and temporal patterns of transcription compared to old genes, which had existed before primate and rodent split. We found consistent patterns across different sources of expression data: there is a significantly larger proportion of young genes expressed in the fetal or infant brain of humans than in mouse, and more young genes in humans have expression biased toward early developing brains than old genes. Most of these young genes are expressed in the evolutionarily newest part of human brain, the neocortex. Remarkably, we also identified a number of human-specific genes which are expressed in the prefrontal cortex, which is implicated in complex cognitive behaviors. The young genes upregulated in the early developing human brain play diverse functional roles, with a significant enrichment of transcription factors. Genes originating from different mechanisms show a similar expression bias in the developing brain. Moreover, we found that the young genes upregulated in early brain development showed rapid protein evolution compared to old genes also expressed in the fetal brain. Strikingly, genes expressed in the neocortex arose soon after its morphological origin. These four lines of evidence suggest that positive selection for brain function may have contributed to the origination of young genes expressed in the developing brain. These data demonstrate a striking recruitment of new genes into the early development of the human brain.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.