Human brains differ from apes’ much more than previously believed
Despite the seemingly close anatomical similarities of human and ape brains, researches found that the micro-architecture of the human brain’s cerebral cortex underwent notable changes during the course of evolution. It means that human brains differ from apes’ much more than previously believed.
The conclusion was drawn after researchers analyzed the activity of genes in various layers of the medial prefrontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and macaques. Specialists found that differences in the structure of the cerebral cortex of the brains of humans and chimpanzees, which are more significant than had been previously assumed. The study was made by an international research team from Russia, China, and it results had been published in the Nature Neuroscience.
Practically, scientists studied the cerebral cortex, the domain of the brain which developed most significantly during the evolutionary process. Each of the six layers of the brain’s cortex has its functional role in handling information, the particular distribution of various types of cells and the organisation of a cell network, as well as different gene functions.
Scientists took laboratory rodents as a test case, and found that the work of more than 5,000 genes is different for various layers of the cortex. No systematic analysis of human gene functioning in the different layers of the brain’s cortex has ever been done before.
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Analyzing the activity of genes in various layers of the medial prefrontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and macaques, researchers detected 2,320 genes, the new markers of the layers of the cortex, which are unique for humans. Also, the 367 genes which are common for humans and chimpanzees function in the cortex’s other layer. When comparing chimpanzees to macaques, only 133 genes have such differences.
Interestingly, from the evolutionary divisions between branches of macaques and chimpanzees, a greater amount of time had elapsed than between the partition of chimpanzees and humans. Still, changes are less pronounced for the first case, meaning that the prefrontal cortex has notably changed throughout the course of man’s evolution.
Scientists say the results will help developing new techniques of regulating human cognitive functions at the regular ageing rates and at the pathogenic mechanisms in the cerebrum.
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