This is the blog for GW students taking Human Evolutionary Genetics. This site is for posting interesting tidbits on: the patterns and processes of human genetic variation;human origins and migration; molecular adaptations to environment, lifestyle and disease; ancient and forensic DNA analyses; and genealogical reconstructions.

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Sunday, February 2, 2020

A Molecular Investigation of Human Self-Domestication


Did humans tame themselves? One hypothesis put forward to explain humans’ high degree of sociality and engagement in cooperation is the neural crest domestication syndrome (NCDS), which states that traits associated with domestication are linked to a reduction of neural crest cells during development. The author of this review, A Molecular Investigation of Human Self-Domestication, discusses the experiments done by Zanella et al., which uncover the potential link between domestication in humans and Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), a disorder characterized by reduction of facial bone size and hypersociality.

Individuals with WBS have a 1.8Mb hemizygous deletion of 7q.ll.23, which includes the loss of BAZ1B, a gene that influences neural crest cell migration and craniofacial development. Zanella et al. found that when AMH genomes are compared to those of archaic hominins, including Denisovans and Neanderthals, AMHs have fixed mutations in the BAZ1B gene that likely result in some loss of function. Presumably, a decrease in BAZ1B expression would lead to reduction in facial bone size, a trait that is observed in the more gracile AMHs as well as other domesticated species. Taken together, these data suggest that a reduction of BAZ1B expression could have played a role in domestication and craniofacial phenotypes in AMHs.

Facial Phenotype Resulting from a Reduction in BAZ1B Expression



Left face shows craniofacial characteristics of AMH with WBS
Right face shows craniofacial characteristics of typical AMH

                         https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/12/eaaw7908

Elaine Miller – Trends in Genetics Post 1



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