scholarly journals Genetic Basis of Human Brain Evolution

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Hayakawa ◽  
Tasha K. Altheide ◽  
Ajit Varki
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Human Brain Evolution

scholarly journals Genetic basis of human brain evolution

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 637-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric J. Vallender ◽  
Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov ◽  
Bruce T. Lahn
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Human Brain Evolution

scholarly journals Evolutionarily developed connections compromised in schizophrenia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn P. van den Heuvel ◽  
Lianne H. Scholtens ◽  
Siemon C. de Lange ◽  
Rory Pijnenburg ◽  
Wiepke Cahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Human Brain Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
The Cost

AbstractThe genetic basis and uniquely human character of schizophrenia has led to the notion of human brain evolution to have resulted in vulnerability to the disorder. We examined schizophrenia-related changes in brain connectivity in the context of evolutionary changes in human brain wiring by comparingin-vivoneuroimaging data from humans, chimpanzees and macaque monkeys. We find that evolutionary changes in human connectome organization overlap with the pattern of schizophrenia-related changes in brain connectivity, with connections evolutionary enhanced in the human brain showing significantly more involvement in schizophrenia pathology than connections shared between humans and non-human primates (effects shown in three independent patient-control datasets). Our findings suggest that the evolution of brain wiring in support of complex brain function in humans may have come at the cost of an increased vulnerability to brain dysfunction in disease.

Human brain evolution: food for thoughts

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim HM Saris ◽  
Steven B Heymsfield ◽  
William J Evans
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Human Brain Evolution

scholarly journals Evolutionary modifications in human brain connectivity associated with schizophrenia

Brain ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (12) ◽  
pp. 3991-4002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn P van den Heuvel ◽  
Lianne H Scholtens ◽  
Siemon C de Lange ◽  
Rory Pijnenburg ◽  
Wiepke Cahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Human Brain Evolution ◽  
The Brain

See Vértes and Seidlitz (doi:10.1093/brain/awz353) for a scientific commentary on this article. Is schizophrenia a by-product of human brain evolution? By comparing the human and chimpanzee connectomes, van den Heuvel et al. demonstrate that connections unique to the human brain show greater involvement in schizophrenia pathology. Modifications in service of higher-order brain functions may have rendered the brain more vulnerable to dysfunction.

scholarly journals Emerging Roles of Long Non-Coding RNAs as Drivers of Brain Evolution

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine Zimmer-Bensch
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Relative Volume ◽  
Structural Reorganization ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Human Brain Evolution ◽  
Transcriptional Regulatory

Mammalian genomes encode tens of thousands of long-noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are capable of interactions with DNA, RNA and protein molecules, thereby enabling a variety of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory activities. Strikingly, about 40% of lncRNAs are expressed specifically in the brain with precisely regulated temporal and spatial expression patterns. In stark contrast to the highly conserved repertoire of protein-coding genes, thousands of lncRNAs have newly appeared during primate nervous system evolution with hundreds of human-specific lncRNAs. Their evolvable nature and the myriad of potential functions make lncRNAs ideal candidates for drivers of human brain evolution. The human brain displays the largest relative volume of any animal species and the most remarkable cognitive abilities. In addition to brain size, structural reorganization and adaptive changes represent crucial hallmarks of human brain evolution. lncRNAs are increasingly reported to be involved in neurodevelopmental processes suggested to underlie human brain evolution, including proliferation, neurite outgrowth and synaptogenesis, as well as in neuroplasticity. Hence, evolutionary human brain adaptations are proposed to be essentially driven by lncRNAs, which will be discussed in this review.

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