Particle.news

Download on the App Store

Study Pinpoints Two Embryonic Shifts That Shaped the Human Pelvis for Bipedalism

Comparative embryology across primates shows pelvic remodeling stems from coordinated gene‑regulatory shifts.

Overview

  • In human embryos, the ilium’s cartilage growth flips 90 degrees around day 53 of gestation, producing a pelvis that is shorter and wider than in other primates.
  • Iliac ossification begins near the sacrum and is delayed by up to 16 weeks compared with other primates, preserving the remodeled shape and supporting births of larger‑brained infants.
  • The Nature study integrates histology, CT imaging, and single‑cell and spatial transcriptomics on 128 human embryonic samples alongside nearly two dozen primate species from museum and research collections.
  • Researchers implicate hundreds of regulatory elements, highlighting SOX9 and PTH1R in the growth‑plate reorientation and RUNX2 in the ossification timetable.
  • Authors infer the growth‑plate reorientation arose roughly 5–8 million years ago and the ossification delay within the last ~2 million years, consistent with pelvic traits in Ardipithecus and Australopithecus fossils.