RNA-binding protein Nova-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NOVA1gene.[5][6]
This gene encodes a neuron-specific RNA-binding protein, a member of the Nova family of paraneoplastic disease antigens, that is recognized and inhibited by paraneoplastic antibodies. These antibodies are found in the sera of patients with paraneoplastic opsoclonus-ataxia, breast cancer, and small cell lung cancer. Alternatively spliced transcripts encoding distinct isoforms have been described.[6] Both Neanderthals and Denisovans had one version and nearly all modern humans had another suggesting positive selection. Insertion of Neanderthal gene variant of the neuro-oncological ventral antigen 1 (NOVA1) gene into human cortical organoids might promote slower development and higher surface complexity in the brain models,[7] but this may be an artefact of a CRISPR side effect,[8][9] as it could not be replicated in a subsequent study.[10]
