PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

What genetic changes made us uniquely human? -- The human intelligence evolved from proximal cis-regulatory saltations

2025-05-16
(Press-News.org)

On its 125th anniversary, Science magazine posed 125 unsolved scientific questions, among which “What genetic changes made us uniquely human?” was listed as one of the 25 core problems. Yet the divergence rate between the alignable genomes of humans and chimpanzees is as little as 1.23%. Scientists hypothesized that gene regulation might account for their dramatic phenotypic differences.

Recently, Quantitative Biology published a research article entitled “The human intelligence evolved from proximal cis-regulatory saltations” in which the focus shifted from protein sequences to their regulatory regions. They represented proximal regulatory sequences of genes using the cis-regulatory element frequency (CREF) matrix. The transcriptional regulatory information from humans and extant ape species—such as chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas—was transformed into orthogonal modules that could be aligned and compared.

The researchers extracted 10 principal regulatory modules from the whole-genome data and ranked them in descending order of binding energy. By comparing the CREF modules of four hominid species, they discovered that two regulatory modules underwent saltations: one between the 4th and 5th eigen-levels and another between the 9th and 10th. The newly regulated gene targets include those associated with long-term memory, cochlea development, learning, exploration behavior, social behavior, and regulation of sleep and happiness. Without any a priori, the CREF module can largely explain the saltation of human cognition and intelligence, offering a new quantitative paradigm for studying the evolution of gene regulation.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

How do bio-based amendments address low nutrient use efficiency and crop yield challenges?

2025-05-16
Under the dual challenges of the rapid increase in the global population and the intensification of climate change, the traditional agricultural model is facing severe tests. The production mode that overly relies on chemical fertilizers and pesticides not only exacerbates environmental pollution but also leads to the imbalance of soil microbial communities, further reducing the nutrient utilization efficiency. As an emerging green technology, bio-based material amendments offer new ideas for enhancing soil health and crop productivity. So, how do bio-based material amendments improve nutrient ...

Predicting e-bus battery performance in cold climates: a breakthrough in sustainable transit

2025-05-16
Predicting E-Bus Battery Performance in Cold Climates: A Breakthrough in Sustainable Transit   The global push toward sustainable transportation has made electric buses (E-buses) a key solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, their widespread adoption faces challenges, particularly in cold climates where battery efficiency drops significantly. Canada, with its harsh winters, presents a unique case study for optimizing E-bus operations, yet existing energy consumption models perform poorly in such conditions. A new study addresses this gap by developing advanced machine ...

Enhancing centrifugal compressor performance with ported shroud technology

2025-05-16
The automotive industry is undergoing a transformative shift toward sustainable propulsion systems to meet stringent environmental regulations, such as the European Union’s push for near-zero-emission vehicles. Among the promising alternatives, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) stand out due to their high efficiency and rapid response times. However, optimizing PEMFC performance requires advanced turbocharging systems to supply compressed air to the fuel cell stack. Centrifugal compressors, a key component in ...

Can localized fertilization become a key strategy for green agricultural development?

2025-05-16
In agricultural ecosystems, there exists a remarkable heterogeneity in the spatial and temporal distribution of soil nutrients. This heterogeneity can cause the nutrient concentrations that different roots of the same plant are exposed to vary by several orders of magnitude, which undoubtedly poses a great challenge to plant growth. In the face of such a complex soil environment, plants have gradually developed a series of coping strategies during the long evolutionary process. Their roots can keenly sense the nutrient-rich hotspots and make corresponding responses. However, traditional fertilization methods are difficult to precisely meet the needs of plants. They not ...

Log in to your computer with a secret message encoded in a molecule

2025-05-16
Molecules like DNA are capable of storing large amounts of data without requiring an energy source, but accessing this molecular data is expensive and time consuming. Publishing May 16 in the Cell Press journal Chem, researchers have developed an alternative method to encode information in synthetic molecules, which they used to encode and then decode an 11-character password to unlock a computer.   “Molecules can store information for very long periods without needing power. Nature has given us the proof of principle that this works,” says corresponding author and ...

In healthy aging, carb quality counts

2025-05-16
Intakes of dietary fiber, high-quality and total carbohydrates in midlife were favorably linked to healthy aging and other positive health outcomes in older women, according to a new study by researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study was published May 16 in the journal JAMA Network Open. “We’ve all heard that different carbohydrates can affect health differently, whether for weight, energy, or blood sugar ...

Dietary carbohydrate intake, carbohydrate quality, and healthy aging in women

2025-05-16
About The Study: In this cohort study of women, intakes of high-quality carbohydrates and dietary fiber were associated with positive health status in older adulthood, suggesting that dietary carbohydrate quality may be an important determinant of healthy aging. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Andres V. Ardisson Korat, ScD, email andres.ardisson_korat@tufts.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.11056) Editor’s ...

Trends in home health care among traditional Medicare beneficiaries with or without dementia

2025-05-16
About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that home health use is high and has increased among people with dementia. Decreasing rates of home health use since 2020 in this high-need population suggest a need for ongoing monitoring of service use and outcomes for people with dementia. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Rachel M. Werner, MD, PhD, email rwerner@upenn.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.10933 Editor’s ...

Thousands of cardiac ‘digital twins’ offer new insights into the heart

2025-05-16
For the first time, researchers from King’s College London, Imperial College London and The Alan Turing Institute, have created over 3,800 anatomically accurate digital hearts to investigate how age, sex and lifestyle factors influence heart disease and electrical function. Creating cardiac ‘digital twins’ at this scale has helped scientists discover that age and obesity cause changes in the heart’s electrical properties, which could explain why these factors are linked to a higher risk of heart disease. The results, published today in Nature Cardiovascular Research, show the opportunities that cardiac digital twins at scale ...

Study reveals impacts of Alzheimer’s disease on the whole body

2025-05-16
While Alzheimer’s disease is mostly considered a disorder of the brain, emerging evidence suggests that the condition also affects other organs of the body. Working with the laboratory fruit fly, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital (Duncan NRI) and collaborating institutions provide a new understanding of how Alzheimer’s disease affects different tissues across the entire body. The findings, published in Neuron, reveal ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Freeze-framing the cellular world to capture a fleeting moment of cellular activity

Computer hardware advance solves complex optimization problems

SOX2: a key player in prostate cancer progression and treatment resistance

Unlocking the potential of the non-coding genome for precision medicine

Chitinase-3-like protein 1: a novel biomarker for liver disease diagnosis and management

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: August 22, 2025

Charisma Virtual Social Coaching named a finalist for Global Innovation Award

From the atmosphere to the abyss: Iron's role in Earth's climate history

US oil and gas air pollution causes unequal health impacts

Scientists reveal how microbes collaborate to consume potent greenhouse gas

UMass Amherst kinesiologist receives $2 million ‘outstanding researcher’ award from NIH

Wildfire peer review report for land Brandenburg, Germany, is now online

Wired by nature: Precision molecules for tomorrow's electronics

New study finds hidden body fat is linked to faster heart ageing

How a gift card could help speed up Alzheimer’s clinical research

Depression and anxiety symptoms in adults displaced by natural disasters

Cardiovascular health at the intersection of race and gender in Medicare fee for service

World’s first observation of the transverse Thomson effect

Powerful nodes for quantum networks

Mapping fat: How microfluidics and mass spectrometry reveal lipid landscapes in tiny worms

ATOX1 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma carcinogenesis via activation of the c-Myb/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

Colibactin-producing E. coli linked to higher colorectal cancer risk in FAP patients

Animal protein not linked to higher mortality risk, study finds

Satellite insights into eutrophication trends on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau

Researchers develop an innovative method for large-scale analysis of metabolites in biological samples

Asteroid Bennu is a time capsule of materials bearing witness to its origin and transformation over billions of years

New AI model can help extend life and increase safety of electric vehicle batteries

Wildfires can raise local death rate by 67%, shows study on 2023 Hawaiʻi fires

Yogurt and hot spring bathing show a promising combination for gut health

Study explains how lymphoma rewires human genome

[Press-News.org] What genetic changes made us uniquely human? -- The human intelligence evolved from proximal cis-regulatory saltations