Methylation profiling of the chimpanzee CNTNAP2 gene in brain using high-resolution tiling arrays.

ABSTRACT: Accelerated brain development is a unique feature of the human species. Not only the size but also morphology, in particular the connections between frontal cortex and basal ganglia distinguish the human brain from great apes and other primates. Recent findings suggest that structural features which may be important for language acquisition are influenced by FOXP2, key regulator of CNTNAP2. CNTNAP2 is one of the largest genes in the chimpanzee genome, encompassing 2.5 Mb. It encodes a neurexin with essential roles in the vertebrate nervous system. The aim of our study was to compare the methylation patterns of CNTNAP2 in human and chimpanzee brains, assuming that epigenetic regulation is essential for brain development and human language abilities. To this end, we designed a NimbleGen tili

ORGANISM(S): Pan troglodytes

SUBMITTER: Claus Scholz 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-52949 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress