Buried Treasure? Overlooked and Newly Discovered Evolutionary Contributions to Human Brain Diseases

Nico J Diederich^#¹, Martin Brüne^#², John S Allen³, Nicole Bender⁴, Emiliano Bruner^{5

6}, Jean-Pierre Changeux⁷, Cali Corrado^{8

9}, Olga Dolgova^{10

11}, Anne Grünewald¹², Geneviève Konopka¹³, Peng Jin¹⁴, Roger Lemon¹⁵, Gilberto Levy¹⁶, Pierre Magistretti¹⁷, Markus J Rantala¹⁸, Kathleen S Rockland¹⁹, Roger Sullivan²⁰, Annie Swanepoel²¹, Toshiki Uchihara²², Katrin Amunts^#^{23

24}, Christopher G Goetz^#²⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
² LWL University Hospital Bochum, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Division of Social Neuropsychiatry and Evolutionary Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
³ Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
⁴ Clinical Evolutionary Medicine Group, Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Reina Sofia Foundation Alzheimer Centre, CIEN Foundation, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain.
⁷ Institut Pasteur and Collège de France, Paris, France.
⁸ Department of Neuroscience "Rita Levi Montalcini", University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
⁹ Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi, Orbassano, Italy.
¹⁰ Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ Faculty of BioScience, Edifici C, Bellaterra Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
¹² Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
¹³ Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Human Genetics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
¹⁶ Independent researcher, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁷ Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁸ Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
¹⁹ Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
²⁰ Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA.
²¹ Northeast London NHS Foundation Trust, Chelmsford, UK.
²² Okinawa Chubu Hospital, Okinawa, Japan.
²³ Cecile and Oskar Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
²⁴ Institute of Neurosciences and Medicine INM-1, Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.
²⁵ Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Centre, Chicago, IL, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40964844
DOI: 10.1002/ana.78030

Review

Buried Treasure? Overlooked and Newly Discovered Evolutionary Contributions to Human Brain Diseases

Nico J Diederich et al. Ann Neurol. 2025.

. 2025 Sep 18.

doi: 10.1002/ana.78030. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
² LWL University Hospital Bochum, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Division of Social Neuropsychiatry and Evolutionary Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
³ Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
⁴ Clinical Evolutionary Medicine Group, Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Reina Sofia Foundation Alzheimer Centre, CIEN Foundation, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain.
⁷ Institut Pasteur and Collège de France, Paris, France.
⁸ Department of Neuroscience "Rita Levi Montalcini", University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
⁹ Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi, Orbassano, Italy.
¹⁰ Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ Faculty of BioScience, Edifici C, Bellaterra Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
¹² Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
¹³ Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Human Genetics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
¹⁶ Independent researcher, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁷ Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁸ Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
¹⁹ Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
²⁰ Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA.
²¹ Northeast London NHS Foundation Trust, Chelmsford, UK.
²² Okinawa Chubu Hospital, Okinawa, Japan.
²³ Cecile and Oskar Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
²⁴ Institute of Neurosciences and Medicine INM-1, Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.
²⁵ Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Centre, Chicago, IL, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40964844
DOI: 10.1002/ana.78030

Abstract

Clinical neuroscience focuses on the mechanisms of brain function, but this approach falls short of insights into how the central nervous system (CNS) evolved, both in health and disease. Here, we discuss evolutionary concepts relevant to understanding human brain diseases, on the genetic, subcellular, cellular, connectomic, behavioral, and cultural levels. By revisiting common neurological diseases, we discuss evolved residues from our ancestors, mechanisms of exaptation, antagonistic pleiotropy, and human longevity with the consequent outpacing of biological evolution by cultural evolution. An evolution-based conceptual framework can propel transdisciplinary research targeting the constraints imposed by and compensatory adaptations involved in human-specific neurological diseases. ANN NEUROL 2025 ANN NEUROL 2025.

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References

1. Mayr E. The growth of biological thought: diversity, evolution, and inheritance. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1982.
1. Carlson BA. Diversity matters: the importance of comparative studies and the potential for synergy between neuroscience and evolutionary biology. Arch Neurol 2012;69:987–993.
1. Nesse RM. Evolutionary psychiatry: foundations, progress and challenges. World Psychiatry 2023;22:177–202.
1. Brüne M, Palanza P, Parmigiani S, Troisi A. Quo vadis psychiatry? Why it is time to endorse evolutionary theory. J Nerv Ment Dis 2022;210:235–245.
1. Bruner E. Cognitive archaeology, and the psychological assessment of extinct minds. J Comp Neurol 2024;532:e25583. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.25583.

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Buried Treasure? Overlooked and Newly Discovered Evolutionary Contributions to Human Brain Diseases

Affiliations

Buried Treasure? Overlooked and Newly Discovered Evolutionary Contributions to Human Brain Diseases

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

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LinkOut - more resources

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