Differential DNA methylation of vocal and facial anatomy genes in modern humans

David Gokhman (), Malka Nissim-Rafinia, Lily Agranat-Tamir, Genevieve Housman, Raquel García-Pérez, Esther Lizano, Olivia Cheronet, Swapan Mallick, Maria A. Nieves-Colón, Heng Li, Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg, Mario Novak, Hongcang Gu, Jason M. Osinski, Manuel Ferrando-Bernal, Pere Gelabert, Iddi Lipende, Deus Mjungu, Ivanela Kondova, Ronald Bontrop, Ottmar Kullmer, Gerhard Weber, Tal Shahar, Mona Dvir-Ginzberg, Marina Faerman, Ellen E. Quillen, Alexander Meissner, Yonatan Lahav, Leonid Kandel, Meir Liebergall, María E. Prada, Julio M. Vidal, Richard M. Gronostajski, Anne C. Stone, Benjamin Yakir, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Ron Pinhasi, David Reich, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Eran Meshorer () and Liran Carmel ()
Additional contact information
David Gokhman: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Malka Nissim-Rafinia: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Lily Agranat-Tamir: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Genevieve Housman: Arizona State University
Raquel García-Pérez: Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), PRBB
Esther Lizano: Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), PRBB
Olivia Cheronet: University of Vienna
Swapan Mallick: Broad Institute
Maria A. Nieves-Colón: Arizona State University
Heng Li: Broad Institute
Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg: Harvard Medical School
Mario Novak: Institute for Anthropological Research
Hongcang Gu: Broad Institute
Jason M. Osinski: University at Buffalo
Manuel Ferrando-Bernal: Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), PRBB
Pere Gelabert: Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), PRBB
Iddi Lipende: Jane Goodall Institute
Deus Mjungu: Jane Goodall Institute
Ivanela Kondova: Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC)
Ronald Bontrop: Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC)
Ottmar Kullmer: Senckenberg Center of Human Evolution and Paleoecology
Gerhard Weber: University of Vienna
Tal Shahar: Shaare Zedek Medical Center
Mona Dvir-Ginzberg: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Marina Faerman: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ellen E. Quillen: Texas Biomedical Research Institute
Alexander Meissner: Broad Institute
Yonatan Lahav: Kaplan Medical Center
Leonid Kandel: Hadassah – Hebrew University Medical Center
Meir Liebergall: Hadassah – Hebrew University Medical Center
María E. Prada: I.E.S.O. ‘Los Salados’. Junta de Castilla y León
Julio M. Vidal: Junta de Castilla y León, Servicio de Cultura de León
Richard M. Gronostajski: University at Buffalo
Anne C. Stone: Arizona State University
Benjamin Yakir: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Carles Lalueza-Fox: Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), PRBB
Ron Pinhasi: University of Vienna
David Reich: Broad Institute
Tomas Marques-Bonet: Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), PRBB
Eran Meshorer: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Liran Carmel: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-21

Abstract: Abstract Changes in potential regulatory elements are thought to be key drivers of phenotypic divergence. However, identifying changes to regulatory elements that underlie human-specific traits has proven very challenging. Here, we use 63 reconstructed and experimentally measured DNA methylation maps of ancient and present-day humans, as well as of six chimpanzees, to detect differentially methylated regions that likely emerged in modern humans after the split from Neanderthals and Denisovans. We show that genes associated with face and vocal tract anatomy went through particularly extensive methylation changes. Specifically, we identify widespread hypermethylation in a network of face- and voice-associated genes (SOX9, ACAN, COL2A1, NFIX and XYLT1). We propose that these repression patterns appeared after the split from Neanderthals and Denisovans, and that they might have played a key role in shaping the modern human face and vocal tract.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15020-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-15020-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15020-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().