Sweden-based Lund University stem cell researchers recently found that DNA follows brain differences between humans and nonhuman primates.
According to a report from The Jerusalem Post, the researchers grew brain cells from humans and chimpanzees through the use of stem cells and compared the said two types of cells. As a result, they found that the two primates are using their DNA's non-coded part in different ways.
The new study revealed that the DNA components that are not encoding protein sequences, called noncoding DNA, may answer why the brains of humans are working so much differently compared to other primate species.
Essentially, DNA was previously believed to have no practical use, even though it was considered "junk DNA" in the scientific field, making the discovery of specific interest to scientists.
Cell Types Compared
Findings of this new research published early last month in the peer-reviewed Cell Stem Cell scientific journal, have opened the realm of probabilities of what's making humans different from other species, a subject Johan Jakobsson, author of the study and a neuroscience professor at Lund, is holding a specific curiosity for.
As such, the professor said he believes that "the brain is the key to understanding" what's making humans human.
He also said he finds it fascinating how it came about that humans can use their brains, so they could build societies, not to mention, educate their children and create advanced technology.
Result from the study authors' use of stem cells as they grew the two brain cells from humans and chimpanzees, and comparison of the two cell types appears to play a vital role in the human brains' development.
'Junk DNA'
Jakobsson explained, this part of the DNA identified as different was not expected. It was a so-called constructional strain of DNA that was formerly called "junk DNA," as detailed in a Scientific American report, a long repetitive DNA string that has been deemed to have no function for a long time now.
This so-called "junk DNA" is consists of more than 98 percent of DNA matter in both human and primate brains. The author of the study continued explaining, previously scientists searched for answers in the part of the DNA where the genes that produce protein, which only comprise roughly two percent of the entire DNA, and analyzed the proteins themselves, to find instances of differences.
Study findings specified that what has been substantial for the development of the brain is rather probably hidden in the unnoticed 98 percent.
Finding the Difference Between Humans and Chimps
Probably, the reason this new evidence had shed light was the stem cell use in the study. Essentially, stem cells are distinctive in their ability to take the form of various cell types and the reproduction and proliferation minus limits, and are critical to multiple forms of scientific studies.
Investigating the differences between humans and chimps employing ethically defensible methods would not be plausible if such a revolutionary strategy had not been available, the researchers noted in their study.
Instead of studying living humans and chimps, Jakobsson said they used the stem cells they grew in a lab. The study results will potentially contribute to genetic studies on psychiatric disorders, like schizophrenia, a condition that seems to be distinctive to humans.
Nevertheless, there is a long way to go before reaching that point, continued explaining Jacobsson, since instead of performing further studies on the two percent of the coded DNA, the researchers may now be forced to investigate deeper into the entire 100 percent, a substantially more complicated task for study.
Related information about the difference between humans and chimps is shown on SciShow's YouTube video below:
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