Dissociation between sensitization and learning-related neuromodulation in an aplysiid species

Biodiversity Meets Neuroscience: From the Sequencing Ship (Ship-Seq) to Deciphering Parallel Evolution of Neural Systems in Omic's Era

The origins of neural systems and centralized brains are one of the major transitions in evolution. These events might occur more than once over 570-600 million years. The convergent evolution of neural circuits is evident from a diversity of unique adaptive strategies implemented by ctenophores, cnidarians, acoels, molluscs, and basal deuterostomes. But, further integration of biodiversity research and neuroscience is required to decipher critical events leading to development of complex integrative and cognitive functions. Here, we outline reference species and interdisciplinary approaches in reconstructing the evolution of nervous systems. In the "omic" era, it is now possible to establish fully functional genomics laboratories aboard of oceanic ships and perform sequencing and real-time analyses of data at any oceanic location (named here as Ship-Seq). In doing so, fragile, rare, cryptic, and planktonic organisms, or even entire marine ecosystems, are becoming accessible directly to experimental and physiological analyses by modern analytical tools. Thus, we are now in a position to take full advantages from countless "experiments" Nature performed for us in the course of 3.5 billion years of biological evolution. Together with progress in computational and comparative genomics, evolutionary neuroscience, proteomic and developmental biology, a new surprising picture is emerging that reveals many ways of how nervous systems evolved. As a result, this symposium provides a unique opportunity to revisit old questions about the origins of biological complexity.

Neural mechanisms underlying the evolvability of behaviour

The complexity of nervous systems alters the evolvability of behaviour. Complex nervous systems are phylogenetically constrained; nevertheless particular species-specific behaviours have repeatedly evolved, suggesting a predisposition towards those behaviours. Independently evolved behaviours in animals that share a common neural architecture are generally produced by homologous neural structures, homologous neural pathways and even in the case of some invertebrates, homologous identified neurons. Such parallel evolution has been documented in the chromatic sensitivity of visual systems, motor behaviours and complex social behaviours such as pair-bonding. The appearance of homoplasious behaviours produced by homologous neural substrates suggests that there might be features of these nervous systems that favoured the repeated evolution of particular behaviours. Neuromodulation may be one such feature because it allows anatomically defined neural circuitry to be re-purposed. The developmental, genetic and physiological mechanisms that contribute to nervous system complexity may also bias the evolution of behaviour, thereby affecting the evolvability of species-specific behaviour.

Associative memory in three aplysiids: correlation with heterosynaptic modulation

Much recent research on mechanisms of learning and memory focuses on the role of heterosynaptic neuromodulatory signaling. Such neuromodulation appears to stabilize Hebbian synaptic changes underlying associative learning, thereby extending memory. Previous comparisons of three related sea-hares (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) uncovered interspecific variation in neuromodulatory signaling: strong in Aplysia californica, immeasureable in Dolabrifera dolabrifera, and intermediate in Phyllaplysia taylori. The present study addressed whether this interspecific variation in neuromodulation is correlated with memory of associative (classical conditioning) learning. We differentially conditioned the tail-mantle withdrawal reflex of each of the three species: Mild touch to one side of the tail was paired with a noxious electrical stimulus to the neck. Mild touch to the other side served as an internal control. Post-training reflex amplitudes were tested 15-30 min after training and compared with pre-test amplitudes. All three species showed conditioning: training increased the paired reflex more than the unpaired reflex. However, the temporal pattern of conditioning varied between species. Aplysia showed modest conditioning that grew across the post-test period. Dolabrifera showed distinctly short-lived conditioning, present only on the first post-test. The time course of memory in Phyllaplysia was intermediate, although not statistically distinguishable from the other two species. Taken together, these experiments suggest that evolutionary changes in nonassociative heterosynaptic modulation may contribute to evolutionary changes in the stability of the memory of classical conditioning.

Evidence That Long-Term Hyperexcitability of the Sensory Neuron Soma Induced by Nerve Injury inAplysiaIs Adaptive

Peripheral axotomy induces long-term hyperexcitability (LTH) of centrally located sensory neuron (SN) somata in diverse species. In mammals this LTH can promote spontaneous activity of pain-related SNs, and such activity may contribute to neuropathic pain and hyperalgesia. However, few axotomized SN somata begin to fire spontaneously in any species, and why so many SNs display soma LTH after axotomy remains a mystery. Is soma LTH a side effect of injury with pathological but no adaptive consequences, or was this response selected during evolution for particular functions? A hypothesis for one function of soma LTH in nociceptive SNs in Aplysia californica is proposed: after peripheral injury that produces partial axotomy of some SNs, compensation for sensory deficits and protective sensitization are achieved by facilitating afterdischarge near the soma, which amplifies sensory input from injured peripheral fields. Four predictions of this hypothesis were confirmed in SNs that innervate the tail. First, LTH of SN somata was induced by a relatively natural axotomizing event—a small cut across part of the tail in the absence of anesthesia. Second, soma LTH was selectively expressed in SNs having axons in cut or crushed nerves rather than nearby, uninjured nerves. Third, after several weeks soma LTH began to reverse when functional recovery of the interrupted afferent pathway was shown by reestablishment of a centrally mediated siphon reflex. Fourth, axotomized SNs developed central afterdischarge that amplified sensory discharge coming from the periphery, and the afterdepolarization underlying this afterdischarge was enhanced by previous axotomy.

Evolution of learning in three aplysiid species: differences in heterosynaptic plasticity contrast with conservation in serotonergic pathways

We investigated the neurobiological basis of variation in sensitization between three aplysiid species: Aplysia californica, Phyllaplysia taylori and Dolabrifera dolabrifera. We tested two different forms of sensitization induced by a noxious tail shock: local sensitization, expressed near the site of shock, and general sensitization, tested at remote sites. Aplysia showed both local and general sensitization, whereas Phyllaplysia demonstrated only local sensitization, and Dolabrifera lacked both forms of learning. We then investigated a neurobiological correlate of sensitization, heterosynaptic modulation of sensory neuron excitability by tail-nerve stimulation. We found (1) an increase in sensory neuron (SN) excitability after both ipsilateral and contralateral nerve stimulation in Aplysia, (2) a smaller and shorter-lasting increase in Phyllaplysia, and (3) no effect in Dolabrifera. Because sensitization in Aplysia is strongly correlated with serotonergic (5-HT) neuromodulation, we hypothesized that the observed interspecific variation in sensitization and SN neuromodulation might be correlated with variation in the anatomy and/or functional response of the serotonergic system. However, using immunohistochemistry, we found that all three species showed a similar pattern of 5-HT innervation. Furthermore, they also showed comparable 5-HT release evoked by tail-nerve shock, as measured with chronoamperometry. These observations indicate that interspecific variation in learning is correlated with differences in SN heterosynaptic plasticity within a background of evolutionary conservation in the 5-HT neuromodulatory pathway. We thus hypothesize that evolutionary changes in learning phenotype do not involve modifications of the 5-HT pathway per se, but rather, changes in the response of SNs to the activation of this or other neuromodulatory pathways upon noxious stimulation.

Pattern and process in the evolution of learning

A century after E. L. Thorndike's (1898) dissertation on the comparative psychology of learning, the field seems ready for a reassessment of its metatheoretical foundations. The stability of learning phenotypes across species is shown to be similar to that of other biological characters, both genotypic (e.g., Hox genes) and phenotypic (e.g., vertebrate brain structure). Moreover, an analysis of some current lines of comparative research indicates that researchers use similar strategies when approaching problems from either an ecological view (emphasizing adaptive significance) or a general-process view (emphasizing commonality across species). An integration of learning and evolution requires the development of criteria for recognizing and studying the divergence, homology, and homoplasy of learning mechanisms, much as it is done in other branches of biological research.