Chimps \'r\' not us: brain genetics very different (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, October 18, 2021, 15:22 (1133 days ago) @ David Turell

Another review of the study:

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/17/no-signs-of-a-climate-emergency-for-w-hudson-bay...

"In a new study, stem cell scientists at the Lund University, Sweden, explore the role of non-coding regions of the genome—previously deemed to be functionless “junk” DNA—and find humans and chimpanzees use a part of their non-coding DNA in different ways. This they claim affects how and when the human brain develops.

"Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. Despite significant similarities in our DNA and few differences in our protein-coding genes, the human forebrain is larger and more complex than that of the chimpanzee.

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"In the new study, the researchers have discovered a transcription regulating protein called ZNF558 that is expressed in the human but not chimpanzee forebrain neural progenitor cells. Originally, about 100 million years ago, ZNF558, evolved to regulate the expression of a family of transposable elements, but now it regulates a gene called SPATA18 that regulates the selective dismantling of mitochondria.

"The expression of ZNF558 itself is regulated by the size of a non-coding structural element in DNA called a VNTR, short for variable number tandem repeat that is longer in chimpanzees than in humans. VNTRs, also called minisatellites, are families of DNA sequences where a short nucleotide sequence is consecutively repeated, with variations in length between individuals."

Comment: Why should a gene and non-coding DNA that eventually makes us, have appeared way before us at 100 million years ago? Luck or God's purpose?