title: Explaining human uniqueness: genome interactions with environment, behaviour and culture.
abstract: What makes us human? Specialists in each discipline respond through the lens of their own expertise. In fact, 'anthropogeny' (explaining the origin of humans) requires a transdisciplinary approach that eschews such barriers. Here we take a genomic and genetic perspective towards molecular variation, explore systems analysis of gene expression and discuss an organ-systems approach. Rejecting any 'genes versus environment' dichotomy, we then consider genome interactions with environment, behaviour and culture, finally speculating that aspects of human uniqueness arose because of a primate evolutionary trend towards increasing and irreversible dependence on learned behaviours and culture - perhaps relaxing allowable thresholds for large-scale genomic diversity.
authors.affiliation: Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. a1varki@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Ajit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varki
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Geschwind
authors.forename: Evan E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Eichler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002877:Chromosomes, Human; D003469:Culture; D004777:Environment; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000502:physiology; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000502:physiology; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008954:Models, Biological; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics