What is a dendritic spine and what is the role of SRGAP2C in the formation of dendritic spines?

Has a muscle mutation allowed the cranium to expand in humans?
i. How many different myosin genes are there in humans?
ii. Which one is a non-functional pseudogene in humans and where is it normally
found?
iii. What advantages have been proposed for the consequences of the possession of
a non-functional myosin pseudogene in humans?
iv. What changes in behaviour must have happened around the same time?
3. What determines the increased complexity of the human brain?
i. How many copies of the SRGAP2 gene are there in humans and when did they
arise?
ii. What is a dendritic spine and what is the role of SRGAP2C in the formation of
dendritic spines?
iii. Why might slower maturation and greater migration of neurons result in a more
complex brain?
iv. How could the function of SRGAP2C be tested experimentally?
4. Is it just protein coding genes that affect brain evolution?
i. How was the Har1F gene identified as a gene that has evolved rapidly in the
human lineage?
ii. Where is the Har1F gene expressed in humans and why is this significant?
iii. What do many of the HAR regions encode and what function might these
molecules perform?
5. Is there a genetic component to speech?
i. What approach was taken to find a gene that is associated with speech. Why was
the KE family important?
Ii What type of protein does FoxP2 express and where is it expressed?
iii. How conserved is the FoxP2 gene and is there any evidence for evolution of this
gene in the human lineage? Is this evolution in promoter or amino acid coding
regions?
iv. What other experiments could you do to look at the function of the FoxP2 gene in
speech.