Evolution of Gene Regulatory Networks and Cognitive Abilities in Humans
Cancelled
Event details
| Date | 06.02.2015 |
| Hour | 14:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Katja Nowick, University of Leipzig (D) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR
Abstract:
Cognitive abilities are among the most striking differences between humans and other primates. However, the molecular changes that gave rise to the evolution of uniquely human cognitive abilities are not well understood. Cognitive skills are complex traits and as such determined by a combination of genetic and other factors. To gain insight into the molecular basis of cognition it is thus important to study the networks of genes involved in cognition and not individual genes. Transcription factor (TF) genes play a major role in cognitive functions, presumably by regulating the expression of many genes that set the stage for cognitive abilities. By comparing expression patterns of genes in the prefrontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques we discovered TF genes that have specifically changed on the human lineage. Moreover, using a network approach we revealed potential evolutionary changes in the gene regulatory network involving these changed TFs. Interestingly, many of the human specific network changes link TFs that have been associated with cognitive traits. I will further present preliminary results from our experimental studies in primate cell lines, in which we are testing our computationally predicted network changes. We speculate that the human specific TF and network changes have been involved in the evolution of human cognitive abilities.
Bio:
Dr. Nowick performed her doctoral work at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Dr. Svante Pääbo’s lab on transcriptome evolution in primates and the functional characterization of FOXP2. She joint Dr. Lisa Stubbs lab at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for her postdoctoral work in 2006 to study the evolution of zinc finger transcription factors in primates. The lab relocated in 2008 to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2010 Dr. Nowick returned to Germany, to join the department of Dr. Hans Lehrach at the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, where she worked on the analysis of RUNX1 target genes and allelic differences in human ZNF genes. She received an Advanced Postdoc award from the Volkswagen Foundation that supports her research group at the University Leipzig. She is an editor for the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution (MBE).
Abstract:
Cognitive abilities are among the most striking differences between humans and other primates. However, the molecular changes that gave rise to the evolution of uniquely human cognitive abilities are not well understood. Cognitive skills are complex traits and as such determined by a combination of genetic and other factors. To gain insight into the molecular basis of cognition it is thus important to study the networks of genes involved in cognition and not individual genes. Transcription factor (TF) genes play a major role in cognitive functions, presumably by regulating the expression of many genes that set the stage for cognitive abilities. By comparing expression patterns of genes in the prefrontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques we discovered TF genes that have specifically changed on the human lineage. Moreover, using a network approach we revealed potential evolutionary changes in the gene regulatory network involving these changed TFs. Interestingly, many of the human specific network changes link TFs that have been associated with cognitive traits. I will further present preliminary results from our experimental studies in primate cell lines, in which we are testing our computationally predicted network changes. We speculate that the human specific TF and network changes have been involved in the evolution of human cognitive abilities.
Bio:
Dr. Nowick performed her doctoral work at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Dr. Svante Pääbo’s lab on transcriptome evolution in primates and the functional characterization of FOXP2. She joint Dr. Lisa Stubbs lab at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for her postdoctoral work in 2006 to study the evolution of zinc finger transcription factors in primates. The lab relocated in 2008 to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2010 Dr. Nowick returned to Germany, to join the department of Dr. Hans Lehrach at the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, where she worked on the analysis of RUNX1 target genes and allelic differences in human ZNF genes. She received an Advanced Postdoc award from the Volkswagen Foundation that supports her research group at the University Leipzig. She is an editor for the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution (MBE).
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free