Why are people smarter than other primates? Such a simple problem has always been a puzzle that cannot be avoided in chemistry. The United States "Science" magazine recently published a research result, the German scientist team for the first time confirmed the unique "smart genes" of humans, which is regarded as an important mechanism that distinguishes us from other primates in the evolution process.
The human and chimpanzee genes are about 99% identical, but the human brain capacity is three times that of chimpanzees. Therefore, during the course of biological evolution, human ancestors must have undergone genomic variation and stimulated brain growth.
The new cortex appears the latest in the evolution process, but it has become the most complex and largest cortex in the brain, which has a lot to do with many advanced functions such as perception, instruction generation, spatial reasoning, consciousness, and human language. . Therefore, it can be said that the complexity and superiority of the neocortex caused the difference between our brains and other animals. Previously, scientists have discovered a human "unique" gene called "ARHGAP11B", but there is no evidence to show whether this gene plays a key role in the evolution of the human neocortex during the evolution of primates.
Professor Weiland B. Hunter and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany have previously suggested that "ARHGAP11B" may play a huge role in the history of human evolution. , They used the non-human primate marmoset model to carry out related research. The team detected the expression of the human-specific gene "ARHGAP11B" in velvet monkey embryos through green fluorescent protein and found that in the neocortical area, it exhibited expression similar to that of humans, making the construction of the first non-human primate model expressing this gene Success, at the same time they found that the gene increased the capacity of the marmoset monkey embryo; significantly increased the formation of folds on the cortex of the marmoset monkey, and showed the gyrus-like structure; and the upper neurons increased significantly.
This is the first time in a non-human primate that the "ARHGAP11B" gene can cause the expansion of the neocortex, so the research team first confirmed that "ARHGAP11B" as a "smart gene" can improve the primate neocortex The increase in volume and the formation of the gyrus structure-this is a key part of human beings who are more intelligent than other primates in chemistry.
