MYH16 gene
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About 2.4 million years ago an ape was born with a genetic defect: the MYH16 gene was disabled by a mutation. Consequently the jaw muscles of this defective creature did not develop properly, the temporalis and masseter muscles. However the ape, whether male or female, somehow survived and bred. Because of the lack of musculature which covered the skull of the descendents of this ape's descendents it is thought that it became possible that these early humans could develop larger brains, becoming, through other mutations, modern humans. This gene is jokingly referred to as the rft mutation, room-for-thought.
Research regarding the MYH16 gene was done by a team at the University of Pennsylvania led by Hansell H. Stedman. A report of the research is published in the March 25th issue of the journal Nature. Their research established that the MYH16 gene is disabled in all human but active in all other great apes. Other chance mutations establish the date of the mutation as about 2.4 million years ago.
External links
- Story from Science Scoop (http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2004/3/24/65831/0337)
- Nature article, "Jaw-dropping theory of human evolution" (http://www.nature.com/nsu/040322/040322-9.html)
Adapted from the Wikinfo article MYH16 gene (http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=MYH16_gene), licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.