Human-specific gene ARHGAP11B promotes basal progenitor amplification and neocortex expansion

The evolutionary expansion of the human neocortex reflects increased amplification of basal progenitors in the subventricular zone, producing more neurons during fetal corticogenesis. Here, we analyze the transcriptomes of distinct progenitor subpopulations isolated by a novel approach from developing mouse and human neocortex. We identify 56 genes preferentially expressed in human apical and basal radial glia that lack mouse orthologs. Among these, ARHGAP11B has the highest degree of radial glia-specific expression. ARHGAP11B arose from partial duplication of the Rho GTPase-activating-protein–encoding ARHGAP11A on the human lineage after separation from the chimpanzee lineage. Expression of ARHGAP11B in embryonic mouse neocortex promotes basal progenitor generation and self-renewal, and can increase cortical plate area and induce gyrification. Hence, ARHGAP11B may have contributed to evolutionary expansion of human neocortex.

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Application:	RNA-seq analysis
Number of samples:	36
Release date:	Mar 2 2015
Last update date:	Oct 18 2018
Access:	Public
Diseases:	Radial Neuropathy
Dataset link	Human-specific gene ARHGAP11B promotes basal progenitor amplification and neocortex expansion

Experimental Protocol

Gene expression profiles of mouse and human purified neocortical progenitor types and neurons were generated by RNA-seq and analyzed including inter- and intra-species comparison.

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GEO

ArrayExpress

ENA

BioProject

Dataset features

Specifications

Experimental Protocol

Repositories

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