http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...141537.htm
Quote:"This research indicates that what drove the evolutionary expansion of the human brain may well be a specific unit within a protein -- called a protein domain -- that is far more numerous in humans than other species."
The protein domain at issue is DUF1220. Humans have more than 270 copies of DUF1220 encoded in the genome, far more than other species. The closer a species is to humans, the more copies of DUF1220 show up. Chimpanzees have the next highest number, 125. Gorillas have 99, marmosets 30 and mice just one. "The one over-riding theme that we saw repeatedly was that the more copies of DUF1220 in the genome, the bigger the brain. And this held true whether we looked at different species or within the human population."
