ArticleNature ecology & evolution2023
Comparative single-cell transcriptomic analysis of primate brains highlights human-specific regulatory evolution.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- The misplaced mouse Pax6 interneuron subclass: A cross-species transcriptomic reassignment.iScience · 2026Article
- CroCoNet: a framework for the quantitative comparison of gene regulatory networks across species.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Comparative single-nucleus transcriptomics reveals asymmetric evolution of the Drosophila male and female germlines.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- GPIHBP1 on oligodendrocytes binds lipoprotein lipase within the human brain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Robust integration of single-cell datasets with imbalanced modality composition.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Genomic-microbial coevolution in human development: chromosome 2 fusion, and human accelerated regions.Mammalian genome : official journal of the International Mammalian Genome Society · 2026Review
- Cross-species single-cell transcriptomic analyses reveal evolutionary conservation and diversification of ovarian tissues.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Article
- Transcriptional and functional profiles of muscarinic receptor-expressing neurons in primate lateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Comparative Single-Cell Transcriptomic Atlas Reveals the Genetic Regulation of Reproductive Traits.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- A consensus spinal cord cell type atlas across mouse, macaque, and human.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Farm animal evolution demonstrates hidden molecular basis of human traits.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- From the brain cell atlas to precision neurology: a review of the application of AI-driven multi-omics in brain science.GigaScience · 2026Review
- Article
- Cross-species consensus atlas of the primate basal ganglia.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Contrastive independent component analysis for salient patterns and dimensionality reduction.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Recent advances in model systems for interrogating diseases of brain aging and associated dementia: Toward human-relevant endophenotypes.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2025Review
- Adaptations of the axon initial segment in fast-spiking interneurons of the human neocortex support low action potential thresholds.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Co-Conservation of synaptic gene expression and circuitry in collicular neurons.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Advancements in comparative omics analysis of human and non-human primate brains and their implications for the evolution of cognitive functions.Primates; journal of primatology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Enhanced cognitive function in humans is hypothesized to result from cortical expansion and increased cellular diversity. However, the mechanisms that drive these phenotypic innovations remain poorly understood, in part because of the lack of high-quality cellular resolution data in human and non-human primates. Here, we take advantage of single-cell expression data from the middle temporal gyrus of five primates (human, chimp, gorilla, macaque and marmoset) to identify 57 homologous cell types and generate cell type-specific gene co-expression networks for comparative analysis. Although orthologue expression patterns are generally well conserved, we find 24% of genes with extensive differences between human and non-human primates (3,383 out of 14,131), which are also associated with multiple brain disorders. To assess the functional significance of gene expression differences in an evolutionary context, we evaluate changes in network connectivity across meta-analytic co-expression networks from 19 animals. We find that a subset of these genes has deeply conserved co-expression across all non-human animals, and strongly divergent co-expression relationships in humans (139 out of 3,383, <1% of primate orthologues). Genes with human-specific cellular expression and co-expression profiles (such as NHEJ1, GTF2H2, C2 and BBS5) typically evolve under relaxed selective constraints and may drive rapid evolutionary change in brain function.
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Registered trials
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