Uncovering the HARbingers of human brain evolution

Federica Mosti; Debra L Silver

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2021.09.022

Uncovering the HARbingers of human brain evolution

Neuron. 2021 Oct 20;109(20):3231-3233. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.09.022.

Authors

Federica Mosti¹, Debra L Silver²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
² Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and Duke Regeneration Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Electronic address: debra.silver@duke.edu.

PMID: 34672980
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.09.022

Abstract

During evolution, humans acquired extensive genomic changes that collectively define unique features of our species, yet functions for these sequence variants are largely unknown. In this issue of Neuron, Girskis et al. comprehensively screen human accelerated regions (HARs) for enhancer activity in human-specific cortical development, creating a valuable online resource.

Keywords: cortex; enhancer; evolution; human accelerated.

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MeSH terms

Brain
Genome*
Genomics*
Humans
Neurogenesis