Human Accelerated Regions (HARs)

Definition: 

A set of 49 segments of the human genome that are conserved throughout vertebrate evolution but are strikingly different in humans. They are named according to their degree of difference between humans and chimpanzees. Some of these highly mutated areas may contribute to human-specific traits while others may represent “loss of function” mutations, possibly due to the action of biased gene conversion rather than adaptive evolution.