Scientists for the first time have grown Neanderthal "minibrains" in lab dishes. A team led by geneticist Alysson Muotri at the University of California, San Diego, reported at a conference that with the help of the genome editor CRISPR they modified a stem cell to have a Neanderthal version of a gene that is involved with brain development in modern humans. They coaxed these stem cells to grow into pea-size "organoids" with cells that make up the cortex, the front part of the brain. The Neanderthal organoids differed in shape and function from ones made identically with the intact modern human gene.

中文翻译：

---

尼安德特人的大脑类器官栩栩如生

科学家们首次在实验室培养皿中培育出尼安德特人的“迷你大脑”。由加州大学圣地亚哥分校遗传学家 Alysson Muotri 领导的一个团队在一次会议上报告说，在基因组编辑器 CRISPR 的帮助下，他们修改了一个干细胞，使其具有尼安德特人版本的基因，该基因与现代大脑发育有关。人类。他们诱使这些干细胞长成豌豆大小的“类器官”，其中的细胞构成大脑的前部皮质皮质。尼安德特人的类器官在形状和功能上与用完整的现代人类基因制成的类器官不同。