長期以來,，“what makes us human”這個(gè)問題一直困惑著人類學(xué)研究人員。19世紀(jì),，有學(xué)者提出人類比黑猩猩發(fā)育更為遲緩而導(dǎo)致比其他靈長類保持年輕形態(tài)的假設(shè),。隨著“幼態(tài)持續(xù)假設(shè)”論斷的進(jìn)一步演繹，人類學(xué)家,、考古學(xué)家和心理學(xué)家開始研究人類和靈長類動(dòng)物不同的發(fā)育速度,。然而，無論對(duì)人或者黑猩猩,，學(xué)界尚不清楚其出生后大腦在分子水平上的發(fā)育機(jī)制,。
中國科學(xué)院上海生命科學(xué)研究院計(jì)算生物學(xué)研究所青年科學(xué)家小組組長Philipp Khaitovich研究員和博士后Mehmet Somel等人通過考量人、黑猩猩和恒河猴三者大腦在不同年齡段的基因表達(dá)量,，發(fā)現(xiàn)從整個(gè)基因轉(zhuǎn)錄組層面上來看,，人、黑猩猩和恒河猴三者大腦的發(fā)育速度并不一致,，相較黑猩猩和恒河猴而言,，一些特定基因在人類身上表現(xiàn)出“加速進(jìn)化”,。因此,，人類發(fā)育遲緩有顯著的基因表達(dá)的特征模式。同時(shí),，這些幼態(tài)持續(xù)基因并不完全隨機(jī),，而與大腦灰質(zhì)有關(guān)。研究結(jié)果顯示,，這些幼態(tài)持續(xù)基因很可能對(duì)人類幼兒的大腦發(fā)育起重要作用,，從分子水平上看這些基因與人類智力的開發(fā)密切相關(guān)。
國際著名雜志美國《國家科學(xué)院院刊》（PNAS）于4月7日?qǐng)?bào)道了上述研究工作,。該項(xiàng)研究工作得到了中國科技部,、中國科學(xué)院、德國馬普學(xué)會(huì)和中國科學(xué)院上海生命科學(xué)研究院計(jì)算生物學(xué)所計(jì)算生物學(xué)重點(diǎn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室的大力支持,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PNAS,，doi: 10.1073/pnas.0900544106，Mehmet Somel，Philipp Khaitovich
Transcriptional neoteny in the human brain
Mehmet Somela,b,1, Henriette Franzb,c, Zheng Yana, Anna Lorencb, Song Guoa, Thomas Gigerb, Janet Kelsob, Birgit Nickelb, Michael Dannemannb, Sabine Bahnd, Maree J. Webstere, Cynthia S. Weickertf, Michael Lachmannb,2, Svante P??bob,2 and Philipp Khaitovicha,b,1,2
aPartner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China;
bMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany;
cMax Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, D-37077 G?ttingen, Germany;
dInstitute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom;
eStanley Medical Research Institute, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850; and
fMacquarie Group Foundation Chair of Schizophrenia Research, Schizophrenia Research Institute, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Abstract
In development, timing is of the utmost importance, and the timing of developmental processes often changes as organisms evolve. In human evolution, developmental retardation, or neoteny, has been proposed as a possible mechanism that contributed to the rise of many human-specific features, including an increase in brain size and the emergence of human-specific cognitive traits. We analyzed mRNA expression in the prefrontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques to determine whether human-specific neotenic changes are present at the gene expression level. We show that the brain transcriptome is dramatically remodeled during postnatal development and that developmental changes in the human brain are indeed delayed relative to other primates. This delay is not uniform across the human transcriptome but affects a specific subset of genes that play a potential role in neural development.
