SRGAP2 gene identified as factor in slow human brain development

Researchers at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute have identified a human-specific gene that may explain the slow developmental pace of the human brain. The study, published in the journal Neuron, focuses on the SRGAP2 gene, which underwent duplication specifically in the human lineage after diverging from chimpanzees.

The research reveals that human microglia—the brain’s resident immune cells—mature over a period of four to eight years, significantly slower than the approximately three weeks required for mouse microglia. The human-specific copies of the SRGAP2 gene are nearly ten times more abundant in microglia than in neurons, acting as a biological mechanism that orchestrates this extended developmental timeline.