Scientists Use Human DNA to Give Mice Giant Brains
I guess Pinky and the Brain taught us nothing? Heedless of the risk of inept attempts at world domination, scientists at Duke University have used human DNA to create big-brained mice embryos. The experiment is actually an attempt to understand the genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees. Our DNA is very similar, but a few small variations add up to big differences in notable places, including hairiness, poop throwing aptitude and brain size. Through their experiment the Duke scientists tested various short bits of DNA called “enhancers.” Enhancers control the activity of genes. The scientists compared the human versions of these enhancers to the enhancers in chimps. They found that the human version of one of the enhancers, dubbed HARE5, caused a 12 percent bigger brain when implanted into a mouse embryo than the chimp version did. That’s despite the chimp and human HARE5 being so similar that they differ by only 16 “letters” in their genetic code. “I think we’ve just scratched the surface, in terms of what we