title: Human brain evolution: transcripts, metabolites and their regulators.
abstract: What evolutionary events led to the emergence of human cognition? Although the genetic differences separating modern humans from both non-human primates (for example, chimpanzees) and archaic hominins (Neanderthals and Denisovans) are known, linking human-specific mutations to the cognitive phenotype remains a challenge. One strategy is to focus on human-specific changes at the level of intermediate phenotypes, such as gene expression and metabolism, in conjunction with evolutionary changes in gene regulation involving transcription factors, microRNA and proximal regulatory elements. In this Review we show how this strategy has yielded some of the first hints about the mechanisms of human cognition.
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai, 200031, China.
authors: Mehmet
authors: M
authors: Somel
authors: Xiling
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Philipp
authors: P
authors: Khaitovich
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D055432:Metabolomics; D013045:Species Specificity; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics