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Study explains why humans are not 'birdbrained'
Study explains why humans are not ‘birdbrained’
Posted by: Allison Hunley August 21, 2015
A study has revealed that a small variation in a protein found in abundance in the brain could be the reason humans are the smartest organisms on Earth. The protein PTBP1 provides insight into how we evolved well ahead of other living creatures. The PTBP1 protein change spurs the formation of neurons which are nerves cells that transmit information in the brain.
These neurons are the cells that develop the brain. The human body, having more PTBP1, could have resulted in being the key to how the mammalian brain evolved into the largest and the most complex.
Every cell has the ability to properly regulate the proteins needed to counter the different activities and roles in the body. Scientists used alternative splicing (AS) to take gene products that were made into proteins. The proteins that are assembled contain the puzzle pieces for the entire human body. When there are signs of more AS, the complexity of the vertebrate increases. These protein changes are found more in mammals than in smaller creatures, like a frog or a bird.
Alternative Splicing is also heavily found more in the brain than anywhere else in the body. Serge Gueroussov is the lead author on the study and a Professor in Canada at the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre and Banbury Chair in Medical Research. He stated that, “We wanted to see if AS could drive morphological differences in the brains of different vertebrate species.”
Gueroussov was also involved in the previous PTBP1 find where it was realized that it takes on a different form in mammals as well as the common protein found in all vertebrates.
Scientists have used a shorter and second presence of PTBP1 to fuel a massive amount of AS events. With the protein balance at its peak, this allows the neuron to be formed from the cell. A study was also conducted using chicken cells to replicate the shorter PTBP1. This set off many (AS) events that are normally found in mammals.
The implications of the study can shed light on how body and brains differ from person to person through the switching that takes place between the two types of PTBP1.
Study explains why humans are not ‘birdbrained’
Posted by: Allison Hunley August 21, 2015
A study has revealed that a small variation in a protein found in abundance in the brain could be the reason humans are the smartest organisms on Earth. The protein PTBP1 provides insight into how we evolved well ahead of other living creatures. The PTBP1 protein change spurs the formation of neurons which are nerves cells that transmit information in the brain.
These neurons are the cells that develop the brain. The human body, having more PTBP1, could have resulted in being the key to how the mammalian brain evolved into the largest and the most complex.
Every cell has the ability to properly regulate the proteins needed to counter the different activities and roles in the body. Scientists used alternative splicing (AS) to take gene products that were made into proteins. The proteins that are assembled contain the puzzle pieces for the entire human body. When there are signs of more AS, the complexity of the vertebrate increases. These protein changes are found more in mammals than in smaller creatures, like a frog or a bird.
Alternative Splicing is also heavily found more in the brain than anywhere else in the body. Serge Gueroussov is the lead author on the study and a Professor in Canada at the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre and Banbury Chair in Medical Research. He stated that, “We wanted to see if AS could drive morphological differences in the brains of different vertebrate species.”
Gueroussov was also involved in the previous PTBP1 find where it was realized that it takes on a different form in mammals as well as the common protein found in all vertebrates.
Scientists have used a shorter and second presence of PTBP1 to fuel a massive amount of AS events. With the protein balance at its peak, this allows the neuron to be formed from the cell. A study was also conducted using chicken cells to replicate the shorter PTBP1. This set off many (AS) events that are normally found in mammals.
The implications of the study can shed light on how body and brains differ from person to person through the switching that takes place between the two types of PTBP1.
