title: Human evolution: enhancing the brain.
abstract: Humans have tripled their brain size since they split from the chimpanzee lineage. A new paper provides for the first time functional evidence that an enhancer contributed to this expansion by accelerating the cell cycle in neural progenitors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology II, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Martinsried, Germany. Electronic address: enard@bio.lmu.de.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Enard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D051157:Frizzled Receptors / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D019579:Neocortex / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D051157:Frizzled Receptors; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface