A gene that regulates bone growth and muscle metabolism in mammals may take on an additional role as a promoter of brain maturation, cognition and learning in human and nonhuman primates, according to a new study led by neurobiologists at Harvard Medical School.
Describing their findings in Nature, researchers say their work provides a dramatic illustration of evolutionary economizing and creative gene retooling - mechanisms that contribute to the vast variability across species that share nearly identical set of genes yet differ profoundly in their physiology.
The research reveals that osteocrin - a gene found in the skeletal muscles of all mammals and well-known for its role in bone growth and muscle function - is completely turned off in rodent brains yet highly active in the brains of nonhuman primates and humans.
