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Neuron cell stickiness may hold key to evolution of the human brain

11-02-2006 · EurekAlert!

The stickiness of human neurons may have been a key factor in why the human brain evolved beyond the brains of our primate relatives. In a study comparing the genomes of humans, chimpanzees and other vertebrates, researchers at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Joint Genome Institute (JGI) found a strikingly high degree of genetic differences in DNA sequences that appear to regulate genes involved in nerve cell adhesion molecules.

Keywords: neuron, cell, stickiness, hold, key, evolution, human, brain

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