Primate abnormal spindle-like microcephaly-associated knockout causes severe microcephaly and oligodendrocyte loss in the brain

Among the many genes linked to microcephaly primary hereditary (MCPH), mutations in the abnormal spindle-like microcephaly-associated (ASPM) gene are the most common cause (Bond et al., 2002;Ltard et al., 2018).ASPM is predominantly expressed in the progenitor cells of the developing brain, specifically in the ventricular and subventricular zones of the cerebral cortex, where its expression peaks during neurogenesis and declines postnatally (Bond et al., 2022).This developmentally regulated expression underscores its critical role in the expansion of the cerebral cortex.However, the pathological consequences of ASPM mutation in non-human primates remain unexplored.Given the lack of cerebral cortical gyrification in rodents as well as other small animals and the evolutionarily divergent functions of ASPM