Sikela James M
Human Medical Genetics Program, Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, USA.
PLoS Genet. 2006 May;2(5):e80. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.0020080.
The recent publication of the initial sequence and analysis of the chimp genome allows us, for the first time, to compare our genome with that of our closest living evolutionary relative. With more primate genome sequences being pursued, and with other genome-wide, cross-species comparative techniques emerging, we are entering an era in which we will be able to carry out genomic comparisons of unprecedented scope and detail. These studies should yield a bounty of new insights about the genes and genomic features that are unique to our species as well as those that are unique to other primate lineages, and may begin to causally link some of these to lineage-specific phenotypic characteristics. The most intriguing potential of these new approaches will be in the area of evolutionary neurogenomics and in the possibility that the key human lineage-specific (HLS) genomic changes that underlie the evolution of the human brain will be identified. Such new knowledge should provide fresh insights into neuronal development and higher cognitive function and dysfunction, and may possibly uncover biological mechanisms for information storage, analysis, and retrieval never previously seen.
黑猩猩基因组初始序列及分析的近期发表，首次使我们能够将人类基因组与其现存的关系最近的进化近亲的基因组进行比较。随着更多灵长类动物基因组序列的获取，以及其他全基因组、跨物种比较技术的出现，我们正步入一个能够进行前所未有的广度和细节的基因组比较的时代。这些研究应能带来大量关于我们物种特有的基因和基因组特征以及其他灵长类谱系特有的基因和基因组特征的新见解，并可能开始将其中一些与谱系特异性表型特征建立因果联系。这些新方法最具吸引力的潜力将在于进化神经基因组学领域，以及有可能识别出构成人类大脑进化基础的关键人类谱系特异性（HLS）基因组变化。此类新知识应能为神经元发育以及更高层次的认知功能与功能障碍提供新的见解，并有可能揭示前所未见的信息存储、分析和检索的生物学机制。
