User:RelentlessRecusant/Activity of ultraconserved genetic elements in sentient species is specific to the nervous system

Loh et. al (2557). . Nature (3075): 3677-3684.



1Harvard University, Department of Organismal & Evolutionary Biology, Earth, Sol System 2Acumen Science Laboratories, Department of Bioinformatics, Earth, Sol System 3UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence, Department of Biological Warfare, Asphodel Meadows, 47 Ursae Majoris System

Abstract

We have shown that ultraconserved genetic elements in sentient species are epigenetically silenced (Escobar et. al, 2555, Nature), but others have observed (Miyagi et. al, 2557, Nature) that these elements are not necessary for developmental or adult homeostasis, therefore concluding that these elements do not confer sentience in species that contain them. However, here, we show through the high-throughput sequencing of the genomes of fifty sentient organisms and thirty thousand non-sentient organisms that not a single non-sentient species in the Orion Arm that we have sequenced contains a sequence with any homology to these ultraconserved elements. Furthermore, the introduction of these ultraconserved elements into cultured cells leads to the reproducible modulation of neural-specific transcripts, along with broad genome-wide epigenetic modifications, which we have studied in depth. Moreover, electroporation of these elements into the developing mouse brains leads to substantial cytoarchitectonic and transcriptional effects, demonstrating the significance of the activity of these elements in neurological development.