A Single Protein In The Brain Could Be The Reason We’re The Smartest Animals On The Planet, New Study

A single protein present in the human brain was found to be the reason why humans are smarter than the rest of the numerous members of the animal kingdom.

Losing a tiny fragment of protein is thought to have spurred the evolution of the complex mammalian central nervous system.

Without that change we could literally be birdbrains, the research suggests.

Why mammals are so brainy compared with other vertebrates such as birds, lizards and frogs is a mystery since all these groups share similar genes.

The answer could lie in a biological process called alternative splicing (AS), part of the assembly system that attaches together the building blocks of proteins from genetic instructions.

During AS in mammals, a small fragment of a protein found in all vertebrates called PTBP1 is left off – like a single brick omitted from a Lego model.

A Single Protein In The Brain Could Be The Reason We’re The Smartest Animals On The Planet, New Study

Scientists found that in mammalian cells, the new shorter version of PTBP1 unleashed a cascade of events leading to the generation of neurons.

When chicken cells were genetically engineered to produce the mammalian form of PTBP1, similar events were triggered.

Lead scientist Professor Benjamin Blencowe, from the University of Toronto in Canada, said: “One interesting implication of our work is that this particular switch between the two versions of PTBP1 could have affected the timing of when neurons are made in the embryo in a way that creates differences in morphological complexity and brain size.”

Agencies/Canadajournal