Human-Specific Hypomethylation of CENPJ, a Key Brain Size Regulator

CORC > 昆明动物研究所 > 昆明动物研究所 > 遗传资源与进化国家重点实验室 > 比较基因组学

	Human-Specific Hypomethylation of CENPJ, a Key Brain Size Regulator
	Shi L 1,2; Lin Q 1,3; Su B[*]1,2
刊名	MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
	2016
卷号	31 期号:3 页码:594-604
关键词	DNA methylation CENPJ brain evolution primate CpG island epigenetic regulation
通讯作者	sub@mail.kiz.ac.cn
合作状况	其它
英文摘要	Both the enlarged brain and concurrent highly developed cognitive skills are often seen as distinctive characteristics that set humans apart from other primates. Despite this obvious differentiation, the genetic mechanisms that underlie such human-specific traits are not clearly understood. In particular, whether epigenetic regulations may play a key role in human brain evolution remain elusive. In this study, we used bisulfite sequencing to compare the methylation patterns of four known genes that regulate brain size (ASPM, CDK5RAP2, CENPJ, and MCPH1) in the prefrontal cortex among several primate species spanning the major lineages of primates (i.e., humans, great apes, lesser apes, and Old World monkeys). The results showed a human-specific hypomethylation in the 5' UTR of CENPJ in the brain, where methylation levels among humans are only about one-third of those found among nonhuman primates. Similar methylation patterns were also detected in liver, kidney, and heart tissues, although the between-species differences were much less pronounced than those in the brain. Further in vitro methylation assays indicated that the methylation status of the CENPJ promoter could influence its expression. We also detected a large difference in CENPJ expression in the human and nonhuman primate brains of both adult individuals and throughout the major stages of fetal brain development. The hypomethylation and comparatively high expression of CENPJ in the central nervous system of humans suggest that a human-specific-and likely heritable-epigenetic modification likely occurred during human evolution, potentially leading to a much larger neural progenitor pool during human brain development, which may have eventually contributed to the dramatically enlarged brain and highly developed cognitive abilities associated with humans.
收录类别	SCI
资助信息	This work was supported by grants from the National 973 project of China (2011CBA00401 and 2012CBA01300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31130051, 31301028, and 31321002), and the Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province (2007C100M and 2009CD107). This study was also supported by funding from the West light Doctoral program.
语种	英语
WOS记录号	WOS:000332343000008
公开日期	2014-04-11
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://159.226.149.42:8088/handle/152453/7839]
专题	昆明动物研究所_比较基因组学昆明动物研究所_遗传资源与进化国家重点实验室
作者单位	1.State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China 2.Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research, Kunming, China 3.Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Shi L,Lin Q,Su B[*]. Human-Specific Hypomethylation of CENPJ, a Key Brain Size Regulator[J]. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION,2016,31(3):594-604.
APA	Shi L,Lin Q,&Su B[*].(2016).Human-Specific Hypomethylation of CENPJ, a Key Brain Size Regulator.MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION,31(3),594-604.
MLA	Shi L,et al."Human-Specific Hypomethylation of CENPJ, a Key Brain Size Regulator".MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION 31.3(2016):594-604.