Divergent Evolutionary Rates of Primate Brain Regions as Revealed by Genomics and Transcriptomics

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Neuroscience
• Primate evolution

Background:

• The primate brain has diverse structures with complex evolutionary and developmental genetic changes.
• Detailed exploration of these genetic changes across brain regions and developmental stages is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate evolutionary alterations in primate brain areas and developmental stages.
• To utilize evolutionary rate index (ERI) and transcriptome age index (TAI) for this analysis.

Main Methods:

• Applied evolutionary rate index (ERI) to assess gene evolutionary rates.
• Used transcriptome age index (TAI) to evaluate gene expression timing.
• Analyzed these metrics across different primate brain regions and developmental stages.

Main Results:

• Non-cortical brain areas exhibited higher gene evolutionary rates during primate evolution, notably in humans.
• The most rapid evolution occurred during late infancy to early childhood brain development.
• Non-cortical areas showed younger transcriptome ages compared to the cerebral cortex, with the youngest ages in late infancy to early childhood.

Conclusions:

• Gene expression in non-cortical primate brain regions evolves faster and is younger during specific developmental periods.
• These findings offer crucial insights into primate brain evolution patterns.
• Provides reference points for future research on primate brain development and genetic changes.