ChimpHumanBrainData
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The origin of humans was accompanied by the emergence of new
behavioral and cognitive functions, including language and
specialized forms of abstract representation. However, the
molecular foundations of these human capabilities are poorly
understood. Because of the extensive similarity between human and
chimpanzee DNA sequences, it has been suggested that many of the
key phenotypic differences between species result primarily from
alterations in the regulation of genes rather than in their
sequences.

To characterize gene expression patterns accross the brain and
investigate the genetic basis of human specializations in brain
organization and cognition, we used microarrays to quantify the
transcript levels of thousands of genes in tissue samples from
different brain regions of several human and chimpanzee
individuals. Our results indicated that the human brain displays a
distinctive pattern of gene expression relative to non-human
primates, with higher expression levels for many genes belonging
to a wide variety of functional classes. The increased expression
of these genes could provide the basis for extensive modifications
of cerebral physiology and function in humans, and suggests that
the human brain is characterized by elevated levels of neuronal
activity.

This package contains a collection of .CEL files meant to be used
for training purposes.