The gephyrin yin and yang sequences are prevalent today in populations representing every major human ancestry.
[11] Positive antibody staining for gephyrin at a synapse is most of the time consistent with the presence of glycine and/or GABAA receptors.
Nevertheless, some exceptions can occur like in neurons of Dorsal Root Ganglions where gephyrin is absent despite the presence of GABAA receptors.
[20] In animal models, a total lack of gephyrin results in stiff muscles and death immediately after birth.
[18] At some point in human history, there was a DNA sequence encompassing gephyrin that split and followed two divergent evolutionary paths.
[10] These types of splits can occur when two populations become isolated from each other or when a chromosomal region does not experience recombination events.
This happened in a relatively short time on an evolutionary scale, as hundreds of mutations were fixed in distinct ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ sequences prior to human migration to Asia.
[10] The existence of this massive yin-yang pattern suggests that two completely divergent evolutionary paths rapidly progressed during human history, presumably achieving the common goal of enhancing regulation of gephyrin.