Gene Variant May Be Responsible For Human Learning

New Scientist ^ | 5-12-2007

[blam]

Gene variant may be responsible for human learning

10:00 12 May 2007
NewScientist.com news service

Humans have a unique variant of a gene linked with learning and memory. This may help explain how we rapidly cut loose in intellect and language from our closest relatives.

The gene, KLK8, makes the protein neuropsin II, which in mice is vital for memory and learning. Bing Su and his colleagues at the Kunming Institute of Zoology in China had earlier demonstrated that neuropsin II is made by humans but not by lesser apes and old-world monkeys. Now they have shown that orang-utans and chimpanzees don't make it either (Human Mutation, DOI: 10.1002/humu.20547).

KLK8 is the first human-specific discovery of a "splice variant" - a gene that is roughly the same in different species but is "cut and pasted" differently when it is expressed, resulting in proteins with new functions. Su's team have shown that KLK8 arose through a single mutation in DNA when a thymine nucleotide was exchanged for an adenine.

This small change had a huge impact, causing 45 additional amino acids to be loaded into the protein that the gene expresses. The changes make humans' neuropsin II significantly different from the neuropsin made by other mammals.

"It would be extremely exciting if the new form [of neuropsin] enhances learning and memory," says evolutionary biologist Jianzhi Zhang of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In Boston, meanwhile, other genes influencing brainpower have been revealed...

[blam]

Parents pass on genes for reasoning and memory

14:00 12 May 2007
NewScientist.com news service

It seems you owe your brains to your parents. Inherited variations in two genes are linked with reasoning, memory and brain volume. One of the genes is also involved in Alzheimer's disease, which raises the possibility that other genes with a role in healthy people may also be implicated in diseases of old age.

Sudha Seshadri at Boston University and colleagues assessed the cognitive abilities of 705 healthy adults with standard tests and used MRI scans to measure the volume of their brains. The researchers also scanned 100,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms - small variations in the genome sequence - in participants' DNA for links to mental performance.

The strongest links were in the genes SORL, involved in abstract reasoning and the processing of amyloid protein in Alzheimer's disease, and CDH4, which seems to predict brain volume.

"A number of these genes have a role throughout life, perhaps in determining brain volume or the degree of age-related decline," Seshadri said at an American Academy of Neurology meeting in Boston on 2 May.

[Thebaddog]

I’m looking for the brain vitamins soon, please.

[denydenydeny]

Su's team have shown that KLK8 arose through a single mutation in DNA when a thymine nucleotide was exchanged for an adenine. This small change had a huge impact, causing 45 additional amino acids to be loaded into the protein that the gene expresses.

A really fortuitous accident, that. Since, as everyone knows, evolution works completely blindly and mechanistically. What a stroke of blind luck that was!

I'll stop now.

[Excellence]

This link triggered every anti-malware program I have.

[piytar]

Uh oh! Thanks for the warning, it didn't trip any of mine (I run several at once, but this is an old computer, and I have not updated in a while).

TO ANY MOD: PLEASE KILL THAT POST WITH THE LINK (just in case)

[NonValueAdded]

Where can I get me some of that neurowhatchamacallit? Signed, Jon Karry

[Lijahsbubbe]

HumansLiberals have a unique variant of a gene linked with learning and memory. The gene, KLK8, makes the protein neuro ps spin

[SunkenCiv]

Gene Mutation Linked To Cognition Is Found Only In Humans
ScienceDaily | 5/9/07
Posted on 05/10/2007 11:50:52 AM PDT by LibWhacker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1831452/posts

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Blast from the Past. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·

[djf]

Hmmm... I thought it was the FOX P2 gene...