# evol: apropos of our origin, the KhoeSan trunk of the human tree

<< Where was the evolutionary birthplace of modern humans? The East African Great Rift Valley has long been the favoured contender – until today. (AA) new research has used DNA to trace humanity’s earliest footsteps to a prehistoric wetland called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, south of the Great Zambezi River. >>

<< KhoeSan have the most diverse mitogenomes of anyone on Earth, which suggests their DNA most closely resembles that of our shared common ancestors. If we all sit on branches of the human family tree, then KhoeSan are the tree's trunk. >>

Vanessa Hayes. Humanity’s birthplace: why everyone alive today can call northern Botswana home. University of Sydney. Oct 28, 2019.

https://theconversation.com/humanitys-birthplace-why-everyone-alive-today-can-call-northern-botswana-home-125814

Eva K. F. Chan, Axel Timmermann, et al.  Human origins in a southern African palaeo-wetland and first migrations. Nature (2019) doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1714-1. Oct 28, 2019.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1714-1    

# gene: parental 'memory' could be inherited across generations (2); the happiness project.

<< In public talks and interviews, Mansuy (Isabelle Mansuy) says she's careful not to promise too much. As confident as she is in her mouse model, she says, there's lots more work to be done. "I don't think the field is moving too fast,"  Mansuy says. "I think it's moving too slow." >>

Andrew Curry. Parents’ emotional trauma may change their children’s biology. Studies in mice show how. Science. doi: 10.1126/science.aay7690. Jul. 18, 2019.    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/parents-emotional-trauma-may-change-their-children-s-biology-studies-mice-show-how  

Andrew Curry. A painful legacy. Science. Vol. 365, Issue 6450, pp. 212-215. doi: 10.1126/science.365.6450.212. Jul 19, 2019.     https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6450/212

Jocelyn Kaiser. The Epigenetics Heretic. Science  Vol. 343, Issue 6169, pp. 361-363. doi: 10.1126/science.343.6169.361.  Jan 24, 2014.    https://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6169/361   

David Grimm. The happiness project. Science. Vol. 359, Issue 6376, pp. 624-627. doi: 10.1126/science.359.6376.624. Feb 09, 2018.    https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6376/624  

Also

parental 'memory' could be inherited across generations. FonT. Jul 22, 2019.  http://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2019/07/gene-parental-could-be-inherited-across.html

'magic string'.  In: FonT.    https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=magic+string

# gene: parental 'memory' could be inherited across generations

AA << tested the possibility that environmentally triggered modifications could allow 'memory' of parental experiences to be inherited. In Drosophila melanogaster, exposure to predatory wasps leads to inheritance of a predisposition for ethanol-rich food for five generations.  Inhibition of Neuropeptide-F (NPF) activates germline caspases required for transgenerational ethanol preference. Further, inheritance of low NPF expression in specific regions of F1 brains is required for the transmission of this food preference >>

<< Given the conserved signaling functions of NPF and its mammalian NPY homolog in drug and alcohol disorders, these observations raise the intriguing possibility of NPY-related transgenerational effects in humans. >>

Julianna Bozler, Balint Z Kacsoh, Giovanni Bosco. Transgenerational inheritance of ethanol preference is caused by maternal NPF repression.
eLife doi: 10.7554/eLife.45391.001. Jul 9, 2019.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/45391

Study finds that parental 'memory' is inherited across generations. The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Jul 9, 2019.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-07-parental-memory-inherited.html   

Also

"Neuropeptide-F"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/?term=Neuropeptide-F

http://flybase.org/reports/FBgn0027109.html 

https://www.wikigenes.org/e/gene/e/42018.html