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CKB (Creatine kinase brain)

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Human Uniqueness Compared to "Great Apes": 
Likely Difference
MOCA Domain: 
Genetics
MOCA Topic Authors: 
Majesta O'Bleness
James Sikela

Creatine kinase brain type (CKB) is a brain specific kinase that utilizes phosphocreatine to generate ATP. The expression of this gene is higher in the human brain than it is in other primates, which may provide more energy for use by the human brain from the phosphocreatine circuit. This availability of more energy to the brain has been hypothesized to play a role in the increased human brain size.

Genetics Topic Attributes

Gene symbols follow the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee standard.

Gene Symbol:
CKB (CKB: creatine kinase, brain)
Type of Human-Specific Changes:
Expression Pattern Change
Related MOCA Topics
Related Topics:
TitleCertainty
Brain SizeSpeculative
Timing

Timing of Appearance of the Difference in the Hominin Lineage.

For this entry assume that

  • the common ancestor of humans and old world monkeys was 25000 thousand (25 million) years ago
  • the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees was 6000 thousand (6 million) years ago
  • the emergence of the genus Homo was 2000 thousand (2 million) years ago
  • the common ancestor of modern humans was 100 thousand years ago

 

Definite Appearance: 
6000 Thousand Years
References: 

Pfefferle AD, Warner LR, Wang CW, Nielsen WJ, Babbitt CC, Fedrigo O, Wray GA. (2011) Comparative expression analysis of the phosphocreatine circuit in extant primates: Implications for human brain evolution. J Hum Evol. 2011 Feb;60(2):205-12.PMID: 21190724

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