Vallender Eric J
Division of Neurochemistry, New England Primate Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Southborough, MA 01772, USA.
Brain Behav Evol. 2008;72(2):168-77. doi: 10.1159/000151476. Epub 2008 Oct 7.
The emergence of the human brain is one of evolution's most compelling mysteries. With its singular importance and astounding complexity, understanding the forces that gave rise to the human brain is a major undertaking. Recently, the identification and publication of the complete genomic sequence of humans, mice, chimpanzees, and macaques has allowed for large-scale studies looking for the genic substrates of this natural selection. These investigations into positive selection, however, have generally produced incongruous results. Here we consider some of these studies and their differences in methodologies with an eye towards how they affect the results. We also clarify the strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches and discuss how these can be synthesized to develop a more complete understanding of the genetic correlates behind the human brain and the selective events that have acted upon them.
人类大脑的出现是进化过程中最引人入胜的谜团之一。鉴于其独特的重要性和惊人的复杂性，弄清楚促使人类大脑产生的各种力量是一项重大任务。最近，人类、小鼠、黑猩猩和猕猴完整基因组序列的确定与公布，使得开展大规模研究以寻找这种自然选择的基因底物成为可能。然而，这些针对正向选择的研究通常得出了不一致的结果。在此，我们审视其中一些研究及其方法上的差异，着眼于它们如何影响研究结果。我们还阐明了每种方法的优缺点，并讨论如何将这些方法综合起来，以更全面地理解人类大脑背后的基因关联以及作用于这些基因的选择事件。
