Two Additional Genes Help Increase the Complexity of the Human Brain
A gene called SRGAP2 that is found in humans, primates and other mammals helps control the rate of the development of the brain. A big difference occurs in Humans who have two similar genes that help increase complexity of the human brain by slowing its development.
These additional genes were place in mice and the proteins thney made bound the SRGAP2 protein slowing the rate of their brains leading to the mice growing additional neuron connections. This shows that these two uniquely human genes make a huge differencet on human brain development making them an important difference between humans and apes.
One thing this study shows that is not stated is the fact that it is a great illustration of the fact that every biological study is interpreted with is obvious evolutionary spin. In this case the evolutionary spin is the claim that these additional are a result of a SRGAP2 duplication 3.5 million ago followed by the duplication duplicating to 2.5 million years ago to form the second additional gene.
What the hard facts are that humans share the SRGAP2 with primates and other mammals producing a protein the regulated the rate of brain development. Humans also have two similar additional shorter genes; one of these two genes is shorter than the other; that slow the brain’s growth rate as regulated by the SRGAP2 protein increasing the human brain’s time of growth allowing it time to make more connections. The references to gene duplications how ever are 100% interpretation based entirely on evolutionary assumptions.
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