While we were writing FOXP5 scientists validated our proposition that very specific human variations on certain mammal genes can differentiate the brain of one species from its close evolutionary relatives. Here is an excerpt from an article about a discovery that just happened to be made at our alma mater.
"Duke scientists have shown that it’s possible to pick out key changes in the genetic code between chimpanzees and humans and then visualize their respective contributions to early brain development by using mouse embryos. The team found that humans are equipped with tiny differences in a particular regulator of gene activity, dubbed HARE5, that when introduced into a mouse embryo, led to a 12% bigger brain than in the embryos treated with the HARE5 sequence from chimpanzees." https://today.duke.edu/2015/02/bigbrain
“Human-Chimpanzee Differences in a FZD8 Enhancer Alter Cell-Cycle Dynamics in the Developing Neocortex,” J. Lomax Boyd, Stephanie L. Skove, Jeremy Rouanet, Louis-Jan Pilaz, Tristan Bepler, Raluca Gordan, Gregory A. Wray, Debra L. Silver. Current Biology, February 19, 2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.041. The full journal article can be found here in DukeSpace, the open-access online repository of university research
Contact: Karl Bates Phone: (919) 681-8054 Email: karl.bates@duke.edu
"Duke scientists have shown that it’s possible to pick out key changes in the genetic code between chimpanzees and humans and then visualize their respective contributions to early brain development by using mouse embryos. The team found that humans are equipped with tiny differences in a particular regulator of gene activity, dubbed HARE5, that when introduced into a mouse embryo, led to a 12% bigger brain than in the embryos treated with the HARE5 sequence from chimpanzees." https://today.duke.edu/2015/02/bigbrain
“Human-Chimpanzee Differences in a FZD8 Enhancer Alter Cell-Cycle Dynamics in the Developing Neocortex,” J. Lomax Boyd, Stephanie L. Skove, Jeremy Rouanet, Louis-Jan Pilaz, Tristan Bepler, Raluca Gordan, Gregory A. Wray, Debra L. Silver. Current Biology, February 19, 2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.041. The full journal article can be found here in DukeSpace, the open-access online repository of university research
Contact: Karl Bates Phone: (919) 681-8054 Email: karl.bates@duke.edu
This is in the Life Imitates Art category. In my novel The Hunt For FOXP5 my co-author and I have a character who does with modern genetics what a real doctor in Indiana did. Fiction helps us to see and understand character and its consequences in a way that is not possible for journalism or even biography.
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/09/12/fertility-doctor-facing-charges/90253406/
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/09/12/fertility-doctor-facing-charges/90253406/
