[news.sciencemag.org]

"In 2012, scientists got their first hint that a gene called TRNP1 might influence brain development in both mice and humans. The discovery came from a dissertation by Ronny Stahl, who conducted his doctoral research in the lab of co-author Magdalena Götz at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. In studies of neural development in mice, Stahl found that TRNP1 produces a protein that determines whether neural stem cells self-replicate, leading to a balloonlike expansion of cortical surface area, or whether they differentiate into a plethora of intermediate stem cell types and neurons, thickening the cortex and forming more complex brain structures. Based on that discovery, the team hypothesized that varying levels of the gene's expression in mice and humans might account for the varying levels of cortical thickness and different shapes between the two species. "