YAP Activity Is Necessary and Sufficient for Basal Progenitor Abundance and Proliferation in the Developing Neocortex (Cell Reports)

Kostic et al. demonstrate that YAP expression and activity in developing neocortex are higher in ferret and human than mouse and are required and sufficient for an abundance of basal progenitors. This suggests that increases in YAP expression and activity levels contributed to the evolutionary expansion of the neocortex.