If a patient has a neurological brain disorder or certain psychiatric disorders, researchers are able to trace it back and see that this person has received a 'big hit' to one of the highly constrained genes that are critical to the nervous system, brain structure, or synapses. So, if one of these genes that make up the basics of a mammal is altered or deleted, it could have negative effects on the organism.Ī New Way to Look at Human Mental and Physical Health We also share similar fundamental processes on a smaller scale, including embryology, how cells grow and divide, and the development and operation of the synapses that transmit neurological chemicals throughout our bodies and brains.Īll of which are formed through our shared genetic regions. Humans and other mammals share anatomical structures, such as the four-chambered heart, lungs, hair (or fur), skeleton, and milk-producing mammary glands. It might be simpler to see the work of our shared genes when we zoom out to take a more holistic view. And yet, this protein hasn't changed so we infer that this protein is doing something really important.' 'That's crazy because we have probably 60 million years of evolution between us and the mouse. 'Some highly constrained genes can make proteins that are nearly identical in us and in a mouse,' said Sullivan. Since these genes have undergone a 'trial by fire' throughout evolutionary history, these unaltered genetic regions must play a fundamental role in the health and genetic makeup of the organism, according to Sullivan. These are the genes that unite us as mammals. Some human genes have a surprising amount of genetic similarity in mice, cows, dogs, cats, bats, and dolphins in many regions of the genome. In scientific terms, these are called 'highly constrained' genes.

While some of our genes have evolved over time, others have remained the same throughout the entire mammalian evolutionary process. It's no surprise that humans and our closest relatives, chimpanzees, share 98.8% of genetic material.

The self-replicating material acts as a blueprint for producing certain molecules in organisms, such as proteins. 'If we can take a deep dive into your genome, we can get some idea about your ancestors, both human and nonhuman, and observe the impacts of many millions of years of evolution in you.'Įvery single living organism on the planet has DNA. 'This is a tool that can give us a lot of important hints about human disease,' said Sullivan, who is also a professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Patrick Sullivan, MD, FRANZCP, the Yeargan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Genetics at the UNC School of Medicine, and the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium have produced a new packet for the journal Science, to give researchers another way to understand human disease, using the power of evolutionary genomics.

A Fire Within by Kathleen Morgan