An important difference between the human brain and other primates has been found. Free Technical Library News

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Found an important difference between the human brain and other primates

01.09.2022

Scientists from Yale American University compared the activity of genes in the cells of the cerebral cortex in humans and other primate species. This made it possible to reveal a lot in common between them - and several important differences that can be key for the formation and operation of the human brain. Among these differences are microglial cells, which use the FOXP2 gene, which is important for language.

Biologists led by Nenad Sestan investigated the structures of the dorsolateral anterior cortex (dlPFC) - an area closely associated with the work of language and emotions, short-term memory, decision making and other higher cognitive functions of the brain.

dlPFC tissues from four primate species, humans, chimpanzees, macaques, and marmosets, were used. For each of them, scientists have identified a transcript - a complete set of RNA synthesized from active genes, showing which ones work in each particular cell. Thus, the authors obtained more than 600 transcriptomes for various primate species, after which they compared them with each other.

The comparison made it possible to identify more than a hundred types of cells that are common to both humans and other animals - and five types of cells that are not found in all. Four of these occur only in humans, and one occurs in humans and chimpanzees. These cells belong to microglia, the immune system of the brain, which is important not so much for fighting infections as for the formation and maintenance of nervous tissue.

Genetic analysis of these microglial cells showed that the FOXP2 gene works in humans, while it remains inactive in other primates. This gene acts as a regulator of many other genes, participating in the development of not only the brain, but also other internal organs.

It is known that disruption of FOXP2 in the nervous system leads to speech disorders and the overall functioning of the vocal apparatus. Now scientists have found that FOXP2 functions in some neurons in all primates, but in microglia only in humans. Thus, we have become a little closer to understanding exactly how the brains of primates and humans differ.

"Today, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is considered a key part of human identity," adds Nenad Sestan. “But we still don’t know what exactly makes it unique in humans, distinguishing it from other primate species. Now we have more evidence of this."

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