The developmental brain gene NPAS3 contains the largest number of accelerated regulatory sequences in the human genome.

ABSTRACT: To identify the evolutionary genetic novelties that contributed to shape human-specific traits such as the use of a complex language, long-term planning and exceptional learning abilities is one of the ultimate frontiers of modern biology. Evolutionary signatures of functional shifts could be detected by comparing noncoding regions that are highly conserved across mammals or primates and rapidly accumulated nucleotide substitutions only in the lineage leading to humans. As gene loci densely populated with human-accelerated elements (HAEs) are more likely to have contributed to human-specific novelties, we sought to identify the transcriptional units and genomic 1 Mb intervals of the entire human genome carrying the highest number of HAEs. To this end, we took advantage of four available da

SUBMITTER: Kamm GB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3670734 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature