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Macionis V. Fetal head-down posture may explain the rapid brain evolution in humans and other primates: An interpretative review. Brain Res 2023; 1820:148558. [PMID: 37634686 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
Evolutionary cerebrovascular consequences of upside-down postural verticality of the anthropoid fetus have been largely overlooked in the literature. This working hypothesis-based report provides a literature interpretation from an aspect that the rapid evolution of the human brain has been promoted by fetal head-down position due to maternal upright and semi-upright posture. Habitual vertical torso posture is a feature not only of humans, but also of monkeys and non-human apes that spend considerable time in a sitting position. Consequently, the head-down position of the fetus may have caused physiological craniovascular hypertension that stimulated expansion of the intracranial vessels and acted as an epigenetic physiological stress, which enhanced neurogenesis and eventually, along with other selective pressures, led to the progressive growth of the anthropoid brain and its organization. This article collaterally opens a new insight into the conundrum of high cephalopelvic proportions (i.e., the tight fit between the pelvic birth canal and fetal head) in phylogenetically distant lineages of monkeys, lesser apes, and humans. Low cephalopelvic proportions in non-human great apes could be accounted for by their energetically efficient horizontal nest-sleeping and consequently by their larger body mass compared to monkeys and lesser apes that sleep upright. One can further hypothesize that brain size varies in anthropoids according to the degree of exposure of the fetus to postural verticality. The supporting evidence for this postulation includes a finding that in fossil hominins cerebral blood flow rate increased faster than brain volume. This testable hypothesis opens a perspective for research on fetal postural cerebral hemodynamics.
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2
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Whitfield JF, Rennie K, Chakravarthy B. Alzheimer's Disease and Its Possible Evolutionary Origin: Hypothesis. Cells 2023; 12:1618. [PMID: 37371088 DOI: 10.3390/cells12121618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The enormous, 2-3-million-year evolutionary expansion of hominin neocortices to the current enormity enabled humans to take over the planet. However, there appears to have been a glitch, and it occurred without a compensatory expansion of the entorhinal cortical (EC) gateway to the hippocampal memory-encoding system needed to manage the processing of the increasing volume of neocortical data converging on it. The resulting age-dependent connectopathic glitch was unnoticed by the early short-lived populations. It has now surfaced as Alzheimer's disease (AD) in today's long-lived populations. With advancing age, processing of the converging neocortical data by the neurons of the relatively small lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) inflicts persistent strain and high energy costs on these cells. This may result in their hyper-release of harmless Aβ1-42 monomers into the interstitial fluid, where they seed the formation of toxic amyloid-β oligomers (AβOs) that initiate AD. At the core of connectopathic AD are the postsynaptic cellular prion protein (PrPC). Electrostatic binding of the negatively charged AβOs to the positively charged N-terminus of PrPC induces hyperphosphorylation of tau that destroys synapses. The spread of these accumulating AβOs from ground zero is supported by Aβ's own production mediated by target cells' Ca2+-sensing receptors (CaSRs). These data suggest that an early administration of a strongly positively charged, AβOs-interacting peptide or protein, plus an inhibitor of CaSR, might be an effective AD-arresting therapeutic combination.
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Affiliation(s)
- James F Whitfield
- Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada
| | - Kerry Rennie
- Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada
| | - Balu Chakravarthy
- Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada
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3
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Vaid S, Heikinheimo O, Namba T. Embryonic mouse medial neocortex as a model system for studying the radial glial scaffold in fetal human neocortex. J Neural Transm (Vienna) 2023; 130:185-194. [PMID: 36450874 PMCID: PMC10033555 DOI: 10.1007/s00702-022-02570-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Neocortex is the evolutionarily newest region in the brain, and is a structure with diversified size and morphology among mammalian species. Humans have the biggest neocortex compared to the body size, and their neocortex has many foldings, that is, gyri and sulci. Despite the recent methodological advances in in vitro models such as cerebral organoids, mice have been continuously used as a model system for studying human neocortical development because of the accessibility and practicality of in vivo gene manipulation. The commonly studied neocortical region, the lateral neocortex, generally recapitulates the developmental process of the human neocortex, however, there are several important factors missing in the lateral neocortex. First, basal (outer) radial glia (bRG), which are the main cell type providing the radial scaffold to the migrating neurons in the fetal human neocortex, are very few in the mouse lateral neocortex, thus the radial glial scaffold is different from the fetal human neocortex. Second, as a consequence of the difference in the radial glial scaffold, migrating neurons might exhibit different migratory behavior and thus distribution. To overcome those problems, we propose the mouse medial neocortex, where we have earlier revealed an abundance of bRG similar to the fetal human neocortex, as an alternative model system. We found that similar to the fetal human neocortex, the radial glial scaffold, neuronal migration and neuronal distribution are tangentially scattered in the mouse medial neocortex. Taken together, the embryonic mouse medial neocortex could be a suitable and accessible in vivo model system to study human neocortical development and its pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samir Vaid
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Oskari Heikinheimo
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, P.O. 140, 00029, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Takashi Namba
- Neuroscience Center, HiLIFE - Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, P.O. 63, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
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4
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Van Heurck R, Bonnefont J, Wojno M, Suzuki IK, Velez-Bravo FD, Erkol E, Nguyen DT, Herpoel A, Bilheu A, Beckers S, Ledent C, Vanderhaeghen P. CROCCP2 acts as a human-specific modifier of cilia dynamics and mTOR signaling to promote expansion of cortical progenitors. Neuron 2023; 111:65-80.e6. [PMID: 36334595 PMCID: PMC9831670 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.10.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The primary cilium is a central signaling component during embryonic development. Here we focus on CROCCP2, a hominid-specific gene duplicate from ciliary rootlet coiled coil (CROCC), also known as rootletin, that encodes the major component of the ciliary rootlet. We find that CROCCP2 is highly expressed in the human fetal brain and not in other primate species. CROCCP2 gain of function in the mouse embryonic cortex and human cortical cells and organoids results in decreased ciliogenesis and increased cortical progenitor amplification, particularly basal progenitors. CROCCP2 decreases ciliary dynamics by inhibition of the IFT20 ciliary trafficking protein, which then impacts neurogenesis through increased mTOR signaling. Loss of function of CROCCP2 in human cortical cells and organoids leads to increased ciliogenesis, decreased mTOR signaling, and impaired basal progenitor amplification. These data identify CROCCP2 as a human-specific modifier of cortical neurogenesis that acts through modulation of ciliary dynamics and mTOR signaling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxane Van Heurck
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Jérôme Bonnefont
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Marta Wojno
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ikuo K. Suzuki
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium,Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Fausto D. Velez-Bravo
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Emir Erkol
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Dan Truc Nguyen
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Adèle Herpoel
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Angéline Bilheu
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sofie Beckers
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Catherine Ledent
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Pierre Vanderhaeghen
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium,Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Recherches en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM), and ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), 1070 Brussels, Belgium,Corresponding author
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5
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Suzuki IK. Evolutionary innovations of human cerebral cortex viewed through the lens of high-throughput sequencing. Dev Neurobiol 2022; 82:476-494. [PMID: 35765158 DOI: 10.1002/dneu.22893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Humans had acquired a tremendously enlarged cerebral cortex containing a huge quantity and variety of cells during evolution. Such evolutionary uniqueness offers a neural basis of our cognitive innovation and human-specific features of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Since human brain is hardly examined in vivo with experimental approaches commonly applied on animal models, the recent advancement of sequencing technologies offers an indispensable viewpoint of human brain anatomy and development. This review introduces the recent findings on the unique features in the adult and the characteristic developmental processes of the human cerebral cortex, based on high throughput DNA sequencing technologies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ikuo K Suzuki
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
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6
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Modenato C, Martin-Brevet S, Moreau CA, Rodriguez-Herreros B, Kumar K, Draganski B, Sønderby IE, Jacquemont S. Lessons Learned From Neuroimaging Studies of Copy Number Variants: A Systematic Review. Biol Psychiatry 2021; 90:596-610. [PMID: 34509290 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.05.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2020] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Pathogenic copy number variants (CNVs) and aneuploidies alter gene dosage and are associated with neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Brain mechanisms mediating genetic risk for neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders remain largely unknown, but there is a rapid increase in morphometry studies of CNVs using T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging. Studies have been conducted one mutation at a time, leaving the field with a complex catalog of brain alterations linked to different genomic loci. Our aim was to provide a systematic review of neuroimaging phenotypes across CNVs associated with developmental psychiatric disorders including autism and schizophrenia. We included 76 structural magnetic resonance imaging studies on 20 CNVs at the 15q11.2, 22q11.2, 1q21.1 distal, 16p11.2 distal and proximal, 7q11.23, 15q11-q13, and 22q13.33 (SHANK3) genomic loci as well as aneuploidies of chromosomes X, Y, and 21. Moderate to large effect sizes on global and regional brain morphometry are observed across all genomic loci, which is in line with levels of symptom severity reported for these variants. This is in stark contrast with the much milder neuroimaging effects observed in idiopathic psychiatric disorders. Data also suggest that CNVs have independent effects on global versus regional measures as well as on cortical surface versus thickness. Findings highlight a broad diversity of regional morphometry patterns across genomic loci. This heterogeneity of brain patterns provides insight into the weak effects reported in magnetic resonance imaging studies of cognitive dimension and psychiatric conditions. Neuroimaging studies across many more variants will be required to understand links between gene function and brain morphometry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Modenato
- Laboratory for Research in Neuroimaging, Centre for Research in Neurosciences, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sandra Martin-Brevet
- Laboratory for Research in Neuroimaging, Centre for Research in Neurosciences, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Clara A Moreau
- Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 3571, Department of Neuroscience, Université de Paris, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Borja Rodriguez-Herreros
- Service des Troubles du Spectre de l'Autisme et Apparentés, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Kuldeep Kumar
- Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Bogdan Draganski
- Laboratory for Research in Neuroimaging, Centre for Research in Neurosciences, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Neurology Department, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ida E Sønderby
- Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sébastien Jacquemont
- Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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7
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Xing L, Kubik-Zahorodna A, Namba T, Pinson A, Florio M, Prochazka J, Sarov M, Sedlacek R, Huttner WB. Expression of human-specific ARHGAP11B in mice leads to neocortex expansion and increased memory flexibility. EMBO J 2021; 40:e107093. [PMID: 33938018 PMCID: PMC8246068 DOI: 10.15252/embj.2020107093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Revised: 03/20/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Neocortex expansion during human evolution provides a basis for our enhanced cognitive abilities. Yet, which genes implicated in neocortex expansion are actually responsible for higher cognitive abilities is unknown. The expression of human-specific ARHGAP11B in embryonic/foetal mouse, ferret and marmoset neocortex was previously found to promote basal progenitor proliferation, upper-layer neuron generation and neocortex expansion during development, features commonly thought to contribute to increased cognitive abilities. However, a key question is whether this phenotype persists into adulthood and if so, whether cognitive abilities are indeed increased. Here, we generated a transgenic mouse line with physiological ARHGAP11B expression that exhibits increased neocortical size and upper-layer neuron numbers persisting into adulthood. Adult ARHGAP11B-transgenic mice showed altered neurobehaviour, notably increased memory flexibility and a reduced anxiety level. Our data are consistent with the notion that neocortex expansion by ARHGAP11B, a gene implicated in human evolution, underlies some of the altered neurobehavioural features observed in the transgenic mice, such as the increased memory flexibility, a neocortex-associated trait, with implications for the increase in cognitive abilities during human evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Xing
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Agnieszka Kubik-Zahorodna
- Czech Centre for Phenogenomics, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vestec, Czech Republic
| | - Takashi Namba
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Anneline Pinson
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Marta Florio
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Jan Prochazka
- Czech Centre for Phenogenomics, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vestec, Czech Republic
| | - Mihail Sarov
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Radislav Sedlacek
- Czech Centre for Phenogenomics, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vestec, Czech Republic
| | - Wieland B Huttner
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
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8
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Ferrari R, Grandi N, Tramontano E, Dieci G. Retrotransposons as Drivers of Mammalian Brain Evolution. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:life11050376. [PMID: 33922141 PMCID: PMC8143547 DOI: 10.3390/life11050376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 04/20/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Retrotransposons, a large and diverse class of transposable elements that are still active in humans, represent a remarkable force of genomic innovation underlying mammalian evolution. Among the features distinguishing mammals from all other vertebrates, the presence of a neocortex with a peculiar neuronal organization, composition and connectivity is perhaps the one that, by affecting the cognitive abilities of mammals, contributed mostly to their evolutionary success. Among mammals, hominids and especially humans display an extraordinarily expanded cortical volume, an enrichment of the repertoire of neural cell types and more elaborate patterns of neuronal connectivity. Retrotransposon-derived sequences have recently been implicated in multiple layers of gene regulation in the brain, from transcriptional and post-transcriptional control to both local and large-scale three-dimensional chromatin organization. Accordingly, an increasing variety of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions are being recognized to be associated with retrotransposon dysregulation. We review here a large body of recent studies lending support to the idea that retrotransposon-dependent evolutionary novelties were crucial for the emergence of mammalian, primate and human peculiarities of brain morphology and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Ferrari
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy;
| | - Nicole Grandi
- Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, 09042 Monserrato, Italy; (N.G.); (E.T.)
| | - Enzo Tramontano
- Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, 09042 Monserrato, Italy; (N.G.); (E.T.)
- Istituto di Ricerca Genetica e Biomedica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 09042 Monserrato, Italy
| | - Giorgio Dieci
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy;
- Correspondence:
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9
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Changeux JP, Goulas A, Hilgetag CC. A Connectomic Hypothesis for the Hominization of the Brain. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:2425-2449. [PMID: 33367521 PMCID: PMC8023825 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 11/02/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive abilities of the human brain, including language, have expanded dramatically in the course of our recent evolution from nonhuman primates, despite only minor apparent changes at the gene level. The hypothesis we propose for this paradox relies upon fundamental features of human brain connectivity, which contribute to a characteristic anatomical, functional, and computational neural phenotype, offering a parsimonious framework for connectomic changes taking place upon the human-specific evolution of the genome. Many human connectomic features might be accounted for by substantially increased brain size within the global neural architecture of the primate brain, resulting in a larger number of neurons and areas and the sparsification, increased modularity, and laminar differentiation of cortical connections. The combination of these features with the developmental expansion of upper cortical layers, prolonged postnatal brain development, and multiplied nongenetic interactions with the physical, social, and cultural environment gives rise to categorically human-specific cognitive abilities including the recursivity of language. Thus, a small set of genetic regulatory events affecting quantitative gene expression may plausibly account for the origins of human brain connectivity and cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Pierre Changeux
- CNRS UMR 3571, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris, France
- Communications Cellulaires, Collège de France, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Alexandros Goulas
- Institute of Computational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Eppendorf, Hamburg University, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Claus C Hilgetag
- Institute of Computational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Eppendorf, Hamburg University, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Health Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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10
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Herbert A. ALU non-B-DNA conformations, flipons, binary codes and evolution. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:200222. [PMID: 32742689 PMCID: PMC7353975 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.200222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
ALUs contribute to genetic diversity by altering DNA's linear sequence through retrotransposition, recombination and repair. ALUs also have the potential to form alternative non-B-DNA conformations such as Z-DNA, triplexes and quadruplexes that alter the read-out of information from the genome. I suggest here these structures enable the rapid reprogramming of cellular pathways to offset DNA damage and regulate inflammation. The experimental data supporting this form of genetic encoding is presented. ALU sequence motifs that form non-B-DNA conformations under physiological conditions are called flipons. Flipons are binary switches. They are dissipative structures that trade energy for information. By efficiently targeting cellular machines to active genes, flipons expand the repertoire of RNAs compiled from a gene. Their action greatly increases the informational capacity of linearly encoded genomes. Flipons are programmable by epigenetic modification, synchronizing cellular events by altering both chromatin state and nucleosome phasing. Different classes of flipon exist. Z-flipons are based on Z-DNA and modify the transcripts compiled from a gene. T-flipons are based on triplexes and localize non-coding RNAs that direct the assembly of cellular machines. G-flipons are based on G-quadruplexes and sense DNA damage, then trigger the appropriate protective responses. Flipon conformation is dynamic, changing with context. When frozen in one state, flipons often cause disease. The propagation of flipons throughout the genome by ALU elements represents a novel evolutionary innovation that allows for rapid change. Each ALU insertion creates variability by extracting a different set of information from the neighbourhood in which it lands. By elaborating on already successful adaptations, the newly compiled transcripts work with the old to enhance survival. Systems that optimize flipon settings through learning can adapt faster than with other forms of evolution. They avoid the risk of relying on random and irreversible codon rewrites.
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