Identified a Genetic Mechanism That Allowed The Unprecedented Increase In The Number Of Neurons And The Appearance Of Capacities That Define Us As Human

29 de June de 2018

The laboratory of Dr. Víctor Borrell, from the Instituto de Neurociencias in Alicante, Spain, a joint center of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the CSIC, has identified for the first time a key molecular signal for the expansion of the cerebral cortex and the acquisition of its complex architecture in the evolution of mammals. This finding is of unprecedented importance because it shows that this evolution was not due to the appearance of new genes, as has recently been suggested, but rather to the fine regulation of genetic mechanisms already existing in reptiles, and common to all amniotes. The study led by Dr. Borrell’s lab in Spain has also involved researchers from the University of Geneva (Switzerland), Max Planck Institute (Germany), Stanford University and Thomas Jefferson University (USA).
Press Release CSIC (spanish)

In the following link, read the Press Release of Instituto de Neurociencias: