Epi-regulate my brain: unlocking mechanisms of brain growth evolution

Abstract

Humans and other great apes stand out among mammals for the big size and advanced folding of their brains’ cerebral cortex. This cortex expansion during evolution has been linked to the acquisition of higher cognitive abilities and results from gene regulatory changes during fetal development. New research in The EMBO Journal implicates the growth factor EPIREGULIN and the epigenetic regulation of its expression in the evolutionary expansion of the cerebral cortex.