Neanderthal-like ‘mini-brains’ created in lab with CRISPR

Amazing stuff!

"Researchers have created tiny, brain-like ‘organoids’ that contain a gene variant harboured by two extinct human relatives, Neanderthals and Denisovans. The tissues, made by engineering human stem cells, are far from being true representations of these species’ brains — but they show distinct differences from human organoids, including size, shape and texture. ...
The latest work takes the research further by looking at gene variants that humans lost in evolution. ...
Humans are more closely related to Neanderthals and Denisovans than to any living primate, and some 40% of the Neanderthal genome can still be found spread throughout living humans. ..."

"... To understand the impact of genetic variants that are specific to modern humans, Trujillo et al. performed a genome-wide analysis to identify 61 coding variants in protein-coding genes. Identifying the gene encoding the RNA-binding protein NOVA1 as a top candidate for functional analyses, they introduced the archaic gene variant into human pluripotent stem cells and generated brain organoids. These organoids showed alterations in gene expression and splicing as well as morphology and synaptogenesis, suggesting that this method could be used to explore other genetic changes that underlie the phenotypic traits separating our species from extinct relatives. ..."

Neanderthal-like ‘mini-brains’ created in lab with CRISPR Organoids that contain an ancient version of a gene that influences brain development are smaller and bumpier than those with human genes.

Here is the link to the underlying research paper:

Reintroduction of the archaic variant of NOVA1 in cortical organoids alters neurodevelopment