生物谷报道：人与黑猩猩的显著差别，不在于所拥有的基因，因为两者的基因的相似程度高达99%，而是在于对这些基因的调控上，一项来自杜克大学（Duke University）的研究报告称。
这似乎像是同样一把小刀，却可以有不同的用法。文章刊登在了8月12日Nature Genetics杂志的网站上。
有两个主要的特征让黑猩猩与其他的灵长类动物区别开来，即脑和饮食。经过仔细分析之后，发现掌控基因何时表达何时关闭的复杂对话——基因调控（gene regulation），表现出明显地差异性。
“正向选择，就是说有助于生存和繁衍的遗传突变在种群中不断扩散开来，影响着针对脑和神经系统以及营养的调控，” 生物学教授Gregory Wray 实验室的博士后Ralph Haygood介绍说，他是该研究性文章的第一作者。
原始出处:
Nature Genetics
Published online: 12 August 2007 | doi:10.1038/ng2104
Promoter regions of many neural- and nutrition-related genes have experienced positive selection during human evolution
Ralph Haygood1,3, Olivier Fedrigo1,2,3, Brian Hanson1, Ken-Daigoro Yokoyama1 & Gregory A Wray1,2
Abstract
Surveys of protein-coding sequences for evidence of positive selection in humans or chimpanzees have flagged only a few genes known to function in neural or nutritional processes1, 2, 3, 4, 5, despite pronounced differences between humans and chimpanzees in behavior, cognition and diet6, 7, 8. It may be that most such differences are due to changes in gene regulation rather than protein structure9. Here, we present the first survey of promoter (5'-flanking) regions, which are rich in cis-regulatory sequences, for evidence of positive selection in humans. Our results indicate that positive selection has targeted the regulation of many genes known to be involved in neural development and function, both in the brain and elsewhere in the nervous system, and in nutrition, particularly in glucose metabolism.
Biology Department, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Ralph Haygood1,3 e-mail: rhaygood@duke.edu
