AUTHOR=Agata Ako , Ohtsuka Satoshi , Noji Ryota , Gotoh Hitoshi , Ono Katsuhiko , Nomura Tadashi 

TITLE=A Neanderthal/Denisovan GLI3 variant contributes to anatomical variations in mice

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1247361

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2023.1247361

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=<p>Changes in genomic structures underlie phenotypic diversification in organisms. Amino acid-changing mutations affect pleiotropic functions of proteins, although little is known about how mutated proteins are adapted in existing developmental programs. Here we investigate the biological effects of a variant of the GLI3 transcription factor (GLI3<sup>R1537C</sup>) carried in Neanderthals and Denisovans, which are extinct hominins close to modern humans. R1537C does not compromise protein stability or GLI3 activator-dependent transcriptional activities. In contrast, R1537C affects the regulation of downstream target genes associated with developmental processes. Furthermore, genome-edited mice carrying the Neanderthal/Denisovan GLI3 mutation exhibited various alterations in skeletal morphology. Our data suggest that an extinct hominin-type GLI3 contributes to species-specific anatomical variations, which were tolerated by relaxed constraint in developmental programs during human evolution.</p>