CARTA Glossary

Displaying 1 - 66 of 66 defined words for "Cellular and Molecular Explorations of Anthropogeny". To see all CARTA defined words, please view the complete glossary.

Word	Definition	Related Vocabulary
Admixture	Breeding between isolated populations.
Allele	Alternative DNA sequence at the same locus (location on the chromosome)	Chromosome, DNA sequence, Locus
Antagonistic Pleiotropy	A phenomenon whereby multiple influences of the same gene have opposite effects on the fitness of the organism
ARHGAP11B	A human-specific protein coding gene that promotes amplification of basal progenitors in the subventricular zone, producing more neurons during fetal cortical development. It has been implicated in the evolutionary expansion of the human brain neocortex.	Basal Progenitor, Neocortex, Neuron, Subventricular Zone
Basal Ganglia (Brain)	Subcortical nuclei in the base of the forebrains of vertebrates, including humans, which are involved with a variety of functions including control of voluntary motor movements, procedural learning, and routine behaviors or “habits” such as teeth grinding, eye movements, cognition, and emotion.
Basal Progenitor	A cortical neural progenitor cell which undergoes replication and division. Basal progenitor cells are a subset that lie in the subventricular zone and lack contact with the neighboring ventricle—only contacting the outer, basal, surface—and contribute to the expansion of the outer cortex.	ARHGAP11B, Subventricular Zone
Basal Radial Glia	A primary progenitor cell capable of generating neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Basal radial glia and outer radial glia are defined by their position, morphology, and genetic phenotype.	Neural progenitor cell (NPC), Neuron
Chromosome	Discrete strands of tightly packaged chromatin.	Chromatin
Codon	A sequence of three nucleotides along a DNA or RNA chain encoding a single amino acid, and start or stop.
Cranial Neural Crest Cells	Cells that become the structures of the endocranium and face.
Daughter Neuron	Resulting cell(s) formed when neural stem cells or progenitor cells undergo cellular division.	Neural stem cell (NSC)
Denisovans	An extinct hominin population contemporary with Neanderthals that hybridized with ancient humans and Neanderthals. Knowledge of Denisovan morphology is limited to two small fossils found in Siberia and a jaw in Tibet.	Hominin, Neanderthals
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)	The molecule of inheritance, which consists of sequences of the four nucleotide bases: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine.	Molecule, Nucleotide, Sequence
FOXP2	A gene in humans that encodes for a transcription factor protein and is involved in the production of speech.
Gene	A DNA sequence which encodes a specific function.	DNA sequence
Gene Flow	Movement of alleles between populations via mating.	Allele
Genetic Adaptation	A biological characteristic with a heritable basis that improves reproduction and/or survival and results from evolution by natural selection.
Genetic Drift	Change in allele frequencies, including fixation and loss, by chance.	Allele
Genome	The totality of DNA in a cell. Also refers to the DNA sequence that typifies an individual or species.	Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), DNA sequence, Species
Genotype	The two alleles at one or more diploid loci.	Allele
Germinal Zone	A region where cell division and proliferation occurs during vertebrate central nervous system development consisting of 2 layers lining the ventricles (ventricular zone and subventricular zone).
Great apes	A taxonomic family denoting the extant chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. This is biologically invalid grouping given that chimpanzees and bonobos are more closely related to humans.	Bonobos (Pan paniscus), Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Hemideletion	One of two paired chromosomes is affected by a deletion. The other chromosome is intact.	Williams Syndrome
Hominid	A classification comprising all living and extinct “Great Apes” and humans.	Great apes
Hominin	A classification of species comprising humans and our extinct relatives following the divergence from the common ancestor with chimpanzees.	Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Species
Homo	The genus that comprises the species Homo sapiens, as well as several extinct species classified as ancestral to, or closely related to, humans.	Genus, Homo sapiens, Species
Hybridization	Breeding among recognized species.	Species
Indel	An insertion or deletion of a DNA sequence.	DNA sequence, Mutation
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)	Somatic (body) cells that are artificially reprogrammed to an embryonic-like stem cell state and differentiated into other types of cells.
Introgression	Transfer of alleles between species.	Allele, Species
Locus	A unique physical position on a chromosome.	Chromosome
Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR)	A protein kinase, which in humans is encoded by the MTOR gene.
Medium Spiny Neurons	A special type of GABAergic inhibitory cell representing 95% of neurons within the human striatum, a basal ganglia structure.	Basal Ganglia (Brain)
Mutation	Change in a DNA or RNA sequence.	Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Indel, Ribonucleic acid (RNA), Silent Mutations, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP), Synonymous/Non-synonymous Mutations
Neanderthals	An extinct Eurasian hominin species that existed from 500-30 kya and interbred with ancient humans and Denisovans.	Denisovans, Hominin, Species
Neocortex	A part of the cerebral cortex concerned with sight, hearing, and touch in mammals, regarded as the most recently evolved part of the cortex.
Nerve	A bundle of fibers that transmits impulses of sensation to the brain or spinal cord, and impulses from these to the muscles and organs.
Nervous system	The network of nerve cells and fibers that transmits nerve impulses between parts of the body.
Neural circuit	A neural circuit is a functional entity of interconnected neurons that is able to regulate its own activity using a feedback loop.
Neural progenitor cell (NPC)	Cells that are capable of dividing a limited number of times and have the capacity to differentiate into a restricted repertoire of neuronal and glial cell types.	Glia (neuroglia), Neuron
Neural stem cell (NSC)	A self-renewing, multipotent cell that generates the neurons and glia of the nervous system of all animals during embryonic development. Some persist in the adult vertebrate brain and continue to produce neurons throughout life.	Glia (neuroglia), Nervous system, Neuron
Neurobiology	The study of the morphology, behavior, and other qualities of the nervous system.
Neurogenetics	The study of the role of genetics in the development and function of the nervous system.
Neuron	A specialized cell that transmits nerve impulses and forms synapses with other cells.
Nuclear Pore Complex	Protein and ribonucleoprotein transport channels in the nuclear envelop of eukaryotic cells. Evolved ~ 1.5 billion years ago. While the primary role of NPCs is to regulate nucleo–cytoplasmic transport, recent research suggests that certain NPC proteins have additionally acquired the role of affecting gene expression at the nuclear periphery and in the nucleoplasm in metazoans.
Nucleoporin 98 (Nup98)	A protein coding gene that plays a role in the nuclear pore complex assembly and/or maintenance. Associated diseases range from Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Monocytic Leukemia.	Nuclear Pore Complex
Organoid	Cell/tissue culture in vitro that aims to mimic organ structure and function.
Outer Radial Glia	Found in the outer subventricular zone of the neocortex, outer radial glia preferentially express genes related to extracellular matrix formation, migration, and stemness.	Extracellular matrix
Outer Subventricular Zone	A uniquely structured germinal zone that generates the expanded primate supragranular layers.
Phenotype	Observable traits of an organism that result from interactions between genes and environment during development.	Gene
Phylogeny	Historical relationships of species or loci.
Polymorphism	The “many forms,” or genetic variants, of a single gene that exist and are maintained in a population at a frequency of 1% or higher.	Gene, Variant
POM121	A gene that encodes for transmembrane nucleoporin, a protein that localizes to the inner nuclear membrane and forms a core component of the nuclear pore complex, which mediates transport to and from the nucleus.
Population	A defined group of similar individuals among whom interbreeding occurs.	Demography, Gene Flow
Pyramidal neurons	A type of neuron found in the mammalian cerebral cortex, the hippocampus, and amygdala of the brain. They are the most abundant excitatory cell type and receive both excitatory and inhibitory input.
Reading-Frame	A way of dividing the sequence of nucleotides in a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) molecule into a set of consecutive, non-overlapping triplets called codons.	Codon, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Reading-Frame Shift	A genetic mutation caused by indels (insertions or deletions) of a number of nucleotides in a DNA sequence that is not divisible by three.	Codon, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Mutation, Reading-Frame
Selection	Allele frequency change over time caused by the different replication rate of specific alleles.
Sequencing	Reading the order of nucleotides in DNA.	Coverage, Shotgun
Single Clonal Lineage Analysis	A system for labeling and following a single progenitor cell and its daughter cells as they proliferate and mature.
Species	A population whose individuals can mate with one another to produce viable and fertile offspring. This is a debated definition and the concept is problematic for extinct fossil organisms for which DNA is not available. This definition is problematic in regard to bacteria as they can exchange genetic material across widely separate taxa.	Bacteria, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
SRGAP2	A gene on chromosome 1 that encodes for a protein that plays a role in cortical neuron development. Duplications of this gene are unique only to humans.	Chromosome, Gene
Subventricular Zone	Describes both embryonic and adult neural tissues in the vertebrate nervous system.	ARHGAP11B, Basal Progenitor, Outer Radial Glia
Transcription Factor Proteins	A protein that alters gene expression by binding directly or indirectly to DNA	Gene Regulation
Variant	DNA that differs among groups studied.	Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Ventricular Zone	A transient embryonic layer of tissue containing neural stem cells, principally radial glial cells, of the central nervous system of vertebrates.	Basal Radial Glia, Nervous system, Neural stem cell (NSC), Outer Radial Glia