Adaptive Structural Variants Contributing to Human Brain Development Revealed by 1,026 Rhesus Macaque Genomes

Clarifying structural variants (SV) profiles in nonhuman primates could provide insights into the genetic background underlying human-specific traits, but such resources are largely lacking. Here, we report the largest SV atlas generated to date from a population of 1,026 macaques, verified by genome assembly for one of them. This accurate, quantitative map indicates stronger purifying selection on inversions located in regulatory regions, suggesting a strategy for prioritizing those with the most important functions. We then identified 75 human-specific inversions and prioritized them. Notably, the top-ranked inversions have substantially shaped the transcriptome through their dual-effects of reconfiguring the ancestral genomic architecture and introducing regional mutation hotspots. As a proof-of-concept, the overexpression of APCDD1, located on one of these inversions and downregulated during human evolution, significantly accelerated neuronal maturation, while its depletion in mice delays the neuronal maturation and subsequently improved their cognitive ability. This study thus provides a valuable resource to explore human evolution and diseases,and broaden the understanding of the contribution of SVs in shaping the distinct features in human brain development.