An evolution revolution provides further revelation.
The extent of copy-number variation (CNV) in the human genome has been appreciated only recently. Nevertheless, for almost four decades, gene duplication has been a prevailing hypothesis for evolutionary change. Recently, gene CNV spanning 60 million years of human and primate evolution has been determined enabling lineage-specific gene CNV to be identified. Primate lineage-specific gene CNV studies reveal that almost one third of all human genes exhibit a copy-number change in one or more primate species. Intriguingly, human lineage-specific gene amplification can be correlated to the emergence of human-specific traits such as cognition and endurance running.
Lupski
James R
JR
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. jlupski@bcm.tmc.edu
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005784:Gene Amplification; D018628:Gene Dosage; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable