@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {10386},
      author = {Chien, Huan-Chieh and Wang, Hurng-Yi and Su, Yi-Ning and  Lai, Kuan-Yu and Lu, Li-Chen and Chen, Pau-Chung and Tsai,  Shih-Feng and Wu, Chung-I and Hsieh, Wu-Shiun and Shen,  Che-Kun James},
      title = {Targeted Disruption in Mice of a Neural Stem  Cell-Maintaining, KRAB-Zn Finger-Encoding Gene That Has  Rapidly Evolved in the Human Lineage},
      journal = {PLOS ONE},
      address = {2012-10-10},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {<p>Understanding the genetic basis of the physical and  behavioral traits that separate humans from other primates  is a challenging but intriguing topic. The adaptive  functions of the expansion and/or reduction in human brain  size have long been explored. From a brain transcriptome  project we have identified a KRAB-Zn finger  protein-encoding gene (M003-A06) that has rapidly evolved  since the human-chimpanzee separation. Quantitative RT-PCR  analysis of different human tissues indicates that M003-A06  expression is enriched in the human fetal brain in addition  to the fetal heart. Furthermore, analysis with use of  immunofluorescence staining, neurosphere culturing and  Western blotting indicates that the mouse ortholog of  M003-A06, Zfp568, is expressed mainly in the embryonic stem  (ES) cells and fetal as well as adult neural stem cells  (NSCs). Conditional gene knockout experiments in mice  demonstrates that Zfp568 is both an NSC maintaining- and a  brain size-regulating gene. Significantly, molecular  genetic analyses show that human M003-A06 consists of 2  equilibrated allelic types, H and C, one of which (H) is  human-specific. Combined contemporary genotyping and  database mining have revealed interesting genetic  associations between the different genotypes of M003-A06  and the human head sizes. We propose that M003-A06 is  likely one of the genes contributing to the uniqueness of  the human brain in comparison to other higher  primates.</p>},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/10386},
}