Browsing by Author "Carvalho, Juliana"

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Open Access
Adaptive sequence divergence forged new neurodevelopmental enhancers in humans.
(Cell, 2022-11) Mangan, Riley J; Alsina, Fernando C; Mosti, Federica; Sotelo-Fonseca, Jesús Emiliano; Snellings, Daniel A; Au, Eric H; Carvalho, Juliana; Sathyan, Laya; Johnson, Graham D; Reddy, Timothy E; Silver, Debra L; Lowe, Craig B
Searches for the genetic underpinnings of uniquely human traits have focused on human-specific divergence in conserved genomic regions, which reflects adaptive modifications of existing functional elements. However, the study of conserved regions excludes functional elements that descended from previously neutral regions. Here, we demonstrate that the fastest-evolved regions of the human genome, which we term "human ancestor quickly evolved regions" (HAQERs), rapidly diverged in an episodic burst of directional positive selection prior to the human-Neanderthal split, before transitioning to constraint within hominins. HAQERs are enriched for bivalent chromatin states, particularly in gastrointestinal and neurodevelopmental tissues, and genetic variants linked to neurodevelopmental disease. We developed a multiplex, single-cell in vivo enhancer assay to discover that rapid sequence divergence in HAQERs generated hominin-unique enhancers in the developing cerebral cortex. We propose that a lack of pleiotropic constraints and elevated mutation rates poised HAQERs for rapid adaptation and subsequent susceptibility to disease.
Open Access
Management Prioritization in a Public-Facing Urban Wetland
(2023-04-28) Carvalho, Juliana; Chase, Benjamin
The Museum of Life and Science is a nature center and science museum located in Durham, North Carolina, working to understand and improve the health of an urban wetland ecosystem located on their campus. The majority of the natural land cover within the wetland’s watershed is forested and managed by the Museum, so a forest inventory and management analysis was conducted to understand potential impacts on the wetland. Interviews and a literature review produced alternatives for community-based environmental management in urban ecosystems that formed a basis for a multi-criteria decision analysis framework. This paper provides a decision-making methodology for the Museum of Life and Science to assess potential environmental management decisions and recommendations through a forestry lens to improve watershed health while meeting their mission.