Advances in Human Evolution

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Evolutionary Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 1346

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. CRI Genetics LLC, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA
2. Department of Medicine, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
Interests: principles of mammalian genome organization; origin, evolution, and functioning of introns; computer modeling of the human genome evolution; structure, function, and evolution of non-protein coding RNA in mammals; peculiarities and specificities of genomic polymorphism in different human populations; characterization of SNP dynamics in the human genome

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Guest Editor
National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
Interests: comparative studies of completely sequenced genomes; computational analysis of functional regions and signals in biological sequences; evolutionary analysis of sequences; theoretical analysis of mutagenesis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During the last two million years, our human ancestors experienced a rapid evolution of the neocortex that resulted in the formation of the modern human brain, capable of analytical and abstract thinking, elaborate communications, and a vast range of emotions. This dramatic expansion and differentiation of the brain coincided with the physical expansion of Homo sapiens across continents. Hundreds of human populations dispersed all over the World, adapting to differing climatic conditions and dissimilar food supplies, and withstanding region-specific infections. The goal of this Special Issue is to uncover the important genetic and epigenetic changes, molecular mechanisms, and other possible factors that allowed this fascinating evolutionary phenomenon. We welcome research or review articles that cover the following topics:

  • Origins of novel, human-specific genes;
  • Description of peculiarities in human population genetics;
  • Identification of polymorphisms that influence human behavior and adaptations;
  • Characterization of genomic regions under positive selection or fast changes;
  • Examining factors that increased human longevity;
  • Investigation of particularities of human brain architecture and development;
  • Characterization of genetic/epigenetic adaptations to different environments; 
  • Analysis of critical anthropology changes;
  • Portray human-specific diseases associated with recent human evolution.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Alexei Fedorov
Dr. Igor Rogozin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • human evolution
  • human-specific genes
  • human brain architecture and development
  • anthropology changes
  • human population genetics

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1453 KiB  
Article
Profound Non-Randomness in Dinucleotide Arrangements within Ultra-Conserved Non-Coding Elements and the Human Genome
by Larisa Fedorova, Emily R. Crossley, Oleh A. Mulyar, Shuhao Qiu, Ryan Freeman and Alexei Fedorov
Biology 2023, 12(8), 1125; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12081125 - 12 Aug 2023
Viewed by 899
Abstract
Long human ultra-conserved non-coding elements (UCNEs) do not have any sequence similarity to each other or other characteristics that make them unalterable during vertebrate evolution. We hypothesized that UCNEs have unique dinucleotide (DN) composition and arrangements compared to the rest of the genome. [...] Read more.
Long human ultra-conserved non-coding elements (UCNEs) do not have any sequence similarity to each other or other characteristics that make them unalterable during vertebrate evolution. We hypothesized that UCNEs have unique dinucleotide (DN) composition and arrangements compared to the rest of the genome. A total of 4272 human UCNE sequences were analyzed computationally and compared with the whole genomes of human, chicken, zebrafish, and fly. Statistical analysis was performed to assess the non-randomness in DN spacing arrangements within the entire human genome and within UCNEs. Significant non-randomness in DN spacing arrangements was observed in the entire human genome. Additionally, UCNEs exhibited distinct patterns in DN arrangements compared to the rest of the genome. Approximately 83% of all DN pairs within UCNEs showed significant (>10%) non-random genomic arrangements at short distances (2–6 nucleotides) relative to each other. At the extremes, non-randomness in DN spacing distances deviated up to 40% from expected values and were frequently associated with GpC, CpG, ApT, and GpG/CpC dinucleotides. The described peculiarities in DN arrangements have persisted for hundreds of millions of years in vertebrates. These distinctive patterns may suggest that UCNEs have specific DNA conformations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Human Evolution)
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