Article
Cell Biology
Maria J. Galazo, David A. Sweetser, Jeffrey D. Macklis
Summary: This study reveals the critical role of Tle4 in both the early acquisition and post-natal stability of corticothalamic neuron-subtype identity. It controls gene expression and connectivity, and utilizes a deacetylation-based mechanism to ensure appropriate maturation of corticothalamic neurons.
Article
Neurosciences
Marissa Co, Rebecca A. Barnard, Jennifer N. Jahncke, Sally Grindstaff, Lev M. Fedorov, Andrew C. Adey, Kevin M. Wright, Brian J. O'Roak
Summary: T-Box Brain Transcription Factor 1 (TBR1) plays essential roles in brain development. Mutations in TBR1 have been found to affect brain development. This study suggests that patient-specific Tbr1 mutant mice can serve as valuable models for studying TBR1-related developmental conditions.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Sherry Jingjing Wu, Elaine Sevier, Deepanjali Dwivedi, Giuseppe-Antonio Saldi, Ariel Hairston, Sabrina Yu, Lydia Abbott, Da Hae Choi, Mia Sherer, Yanjie Qiu, Ashwini Shinde, Mackenzie Lenahan, Daniella Rizzo, Qing Xu, Irving Barrera, Vipin Kumar, Giovanni Marrero, Alvar Pronneke, Shuhan Huang, Klas Kullander, David A. Stafford, Evan Macosko, Fei Chen, Bernardo Rudy, Gord Fishell
Summary: Cardinal classes of cortical interneurons provide a simplified understanding of diversity, but more detailed investigation is needed for subtypes such as somatostatin interneurons. This study reveals that different subtypes of somatostatin interneurons have unique laminar organization and axonal projection patterns, and form cell-type-specific cortical circuits.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Junhua Liu, Mengjie Yang, Mingzhao Su, Bin Liu, Kaixing Zhou, Congli Sun, Ru Ba, Baocong Yu, Baoshen Zhang, Zhe Zhang, Wenxin Fan, Kun Wang, Min Zhong, Junhai Han, Chunjie Zhao
Summary: This study reveals that the transcription factor FOXG1 plays a crucial role in the specification of cortical neuron subtypes. Loss of FOXG1 leads to projection deficits in mice. By regulating the expression of specific genes, FOXG1 controls the identity of different cortical neuron subtypes and provides insights into neuropathogenesis.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
S. Bashir, F. Al-Sultan, A. A. Jamea, A. Almousa, M. S. Alzahrani, F. A. Alhargan, T. Abualait, W. K. Yoo
Summary: Physical exercise has been shown to have a significant impact on cortical thickness, particularly in the left pericalcarine area and right rostral middle frontal. This suggests that regular exercise can enhance brain structures.
EUROPEAN REVIEW FOR MEDICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Gwendolyn English, Newsha Ghasemi Nejad, Marcel Sommerfelt, Mehmet Fatih Yanik, Wolfger Von der Behrens
Summary: By recording neural activity in the somatosensory pathway of mice, researchers have found that specific cortical circuits encode Bayesian surprise. The surprise sensitivity is not evident in the somatosensory thalamus, but rather in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices. These results provide a precise spatiotemporal neural representation of Bayesian surprise and suggest its importance in cortical processing.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Agata Izabela Kalita, Eric Marois, Magdalena Kozielska, Franz J. Weissing, Etienne Jaouen, Martin M. Moeckel, Frank Ruehle, Falk Butter, M. Felicia Basilicata, Claudia Isabelle Keller Valsecchi
Summary: The discovery of the sex chromosome activation (SOA) gene as a master regulator of dosage compensation (DC) in Anopheles mosquitoes sheds light on the evolutionary steps leading to the establishment of a chromosome-specific fine-tuning mechanism. The male isoform of the SOA gene encodes a DNA-binding protein that binds the promoters of active X chromosomal genes and expressing it induces DC in female cells. Male mosquitoes lacking SOA or female mosquitoes expressing the male isoform exhibit X chromosome misregulation and developmental delay.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sadra Sadeh, Claudia Clopath
Summary: The study shows that different types of neural network structures can influence the formation and dynamics of assemblies. Networks with dominant excitatory interactions enable fast assembly formation but may lead to some degree of non-specific induction, while networks with strong excitatory-inhibitory interactions ensure that assembly formation is constrained to perturbed neurons only, albeit at a slower pace. These two regimes offer different trade-offs between speed and specificity for computational and cognitive tasks.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Motoki Kajiwara, Ritsuki Nomura, Felix Goetze, Masanori Kawabata, Yoshikazu Isomura, Tatsuya Akutsu, Masanori Shimono
Summary: This study evaluated the controlling ability of inhibitory neurons in comparison with excitatory neurons by conducting simultaneous electrical recording and quantitative evaluation of neuronal interactions. The results showed that inhibitory neurons have higher controlling ability, especially in deeper layers of the cortex. The limited number of neurons with high controlling ability may be more effective in modeling and treating imbalanced disease states in the brain.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Alexander Bryson, Samuel F. Berkovic, Steven Petrou, David B. Grayden
Summary: The study found that fast spiking interneuron subtypes have a significant impact on cortical activity, with reductions in their excitability leading to strong spike correlations and network oscillations as well as a decrease in global excitation-inhibition balance. This suggests that fast spiking interneurons play a crucial role in controlling the strength of recurrent excitatory connectivity and transitioning to an inhibition stabilized regime within cortical networks.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Edmund T. Rolls, Josef P. Rauschecker, Gustavo Deco, Chu-Chung Huang, Jianfeng Feng
Summary: Study investigated effective connectivity between auditory cortical regions and other cortical regions using data from 171 Human Connectome Project participants. A hierarchy of auditory cortical processing was identified, from core regions to belt regions and onward to higher-level regions. The study also found connections between auditory regions, visual regions, and language-related semantic regions, suggesting the involvement of multimodal processing in object identification and language comprehension.
Article
Neurosciences
Valeria Oliva, Rob Gregory, Wendy-Elizabeth Davies, Lee Harrison, Rosalyn Moran, Anthony E. Pickering, Jonathan C. W. Brooks
Summary: Pain can be alleviated by shifting attention elsewhere, and the brainstem regions including locus coeruleus, rostral ventromedial medulla, and periaqueductal grey are involved in attentional analgesia. Functional interactions between these regions and the cortex modulate nociceptive input to reduce pain, particularly in situations requiring conflicting attentional demands.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Esther Klingler, Ugo Tomasello, Julien Prados, Justus M. Kebschull, Alessandro Contestabile, Gregorio L. Galinanes, Sabine Fievre, Antonio Santinha, Randal Platt, Daniel Huber, Alexandre Dayer, Camilla Bellone, Denis Jabaudon
Summary: Interconnectivity between neocortical areas is essential for sensory integration and sensorimotor transformations, mediated by heterogeneous inter-areal cortical projection neurons (ICPN) that are anatomically diverse but molecularly homogeneous. The study revealed distinct molecular and functional differentiation paces of different subtypes of ICPN within a single cortical area, impacting circuit connectivities and functions. Dynamic differences in gene expression levels may account for the emergence of intra-type diversity in cortical neurons.
Article
Neurosciences
Sara A. Sims, Pinar Demirayak, Simone Cedotal, Kristina M. Visscher
Summary: Functional and structural connectivity between central and peripheral visual representations differ, with central portions of V1 showing stronger connections to frontal regions. The relationship between central V1 and frontal areas is built upon direct connections via the IFOF, emphasizing the importance of understanding how the human brain processes visual information.
Article
Neurosciences
Edmund T. Rolls, Gustavo Deco, Chu-Chung Huang, Jianfeng Feng
Summary: Using the HCP-MMP atlas, the effective connectivity between visual cortical regions in human brain was investigated. Different visual streams were found to be involved in object recognition, scene representations, language systems, and social behavior. These streams are connected hierarchically and interact with reward systems and memory systems.
Review
Neurosciences
Veronica B. Searles Quick, Belinda Wang, Matthew W. State
Summary: Advances in big data approaches through large-scale human genomic studies have led to significant progress in the genetics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), confirming the contribution of polygenic inheritance involving common alleles and identifying numerous rare, de novo germline mutations. This genomic architecture provides valuable insights into biological mechanisms while also presenting unique challenges. The application of comprehensive -omics databases across species is contributing to a deeper understanding of ASD pathology.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Helen Rankin Willsey, Cameron R. T. Exner, Yuxiao Xu, Amanda Everitt, Nawei Sun, Belinda Wang, Jeanselle Dea, Galina Schmunk, Yefim Zaltsman, Nia Teerikorpi, Albert Kim, Aoife S. Anderson, David Shin, Meghan Seyler, Tomasz J. Nowakowski, Richard M. Harland, A. Jeremy Willsey, Matthew W. State
Summary: Gene Ontology analyses have repeatedly identified synaptic function and transcriptional regulation as key points of convergence in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) risk genes. Leveraging Xenopus tropicalis, a study of ten genes associated with ASD found that mutations led to an increase in neural progenitor cells, implicating cortical neurons in ASD vulnerability and expanding the range of convergent functions to include neurogenesis. Systematic chemical screening identified estrogen, through Sonic hedgehog signaling, as a resilience factor that may mitigate a range of ASD genetic risks in Xenopus and human brain models.
Correction
Neurosciences
Helen Rankin Willsey, Cameron R. T. Exner, Yuxiao Xu, Amanda Everitt, Nawei Sun, Belinda Wang, Jeanselle Dea, Galina Schmunk, Yefim Zaltsman, Nia Teerikorpi, Albert Kim, Aoife S. Anderson, David Shin, Meghan Seyler, Tomasz J. Nowakowski, Richard M. Harland, A. Jeremy Willsey, Matthew W. State
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Syed Ahmad Chan Bukhari, Shrikant Pawar, Jeff Mandell, Steven H. Kleinstein, Kei-Hoi Cheung
Summary: The study demonstrates the feasibility and flexibility of using a graph database for storing and querying immunological data with complex biological relationships. Utilizing a graph-based approach allows for the potential discovery of novel relationships among heterogeneous biological data and metadata.
BMC BIOINFORMATICS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Matthew Halvorsen, Jin Szatkiewicz, Poorva Mudgal, Dongmei Yu, Ashley E. Nordsletten, David Mataix-Cols, Carol A. Mathews, Jeremiah M. Scharf, Manuel Mattheisen, Mary M. Robertson, Andrew McQuillin, James J. Crowley
Summary: Tourette syndrome (TS) is a highly heritable neuropsychiatric disorder with complex genetic patterns. Genetic studies in a large affected British pedigree showed that the risk for TS in this family is associated with a higher load of common genetic variants rather than rare variants of strong effect.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Benxia Hu, Hyejung Won, Won Mah, Royce Park, Bibi Kassim, Keeley Spiess, Alexey Kozlenkov, Cheynna A. Crowley, Sirisha Pochareddy, Yun Li, Stella Dracheva, Nenad Sestan, Schahram Akbarian, Daniel H. Geschwind
Summary: This study integrated gene regulatory landscapes of different cell types to explore cell-specific etiologies in brain disorders, revealing involvement of neurons and oligodendrocytes in Alzheimer's disease, and identifying distinct mechanisms for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Editorial Material
Oncology
Chichun Tan, Jeffrey D. Mandell, Krishna Dasari, Vincent L. Cannataro, Jorge A. Alfaro-Murillo, Jeffrey P. Townsend
Article
Cell Biology
Eirene Markenscoff-Papadimitriou, Fadya Binyameen, Sean Whalen, James Price, Kenneth Lim, Athena R. Ypsilanti, Rinaldo Catta-Preta, Emily Ling-Lin Pai, Xin Mu, Duan Xu, Katherine S. Pollard, Alex S. Nord, Matthew W. State, John L. Rubenstein
Summary: Deleterious genetic variants in POGZ are strongly associated with ASD and affect the expression of synaptic genes and chromatin states, playing a role in neurodevelopment.
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Emily M. Cohodes, Paola Odriozola, Jeffrey D. Mandell, Camila Caballero, Sarah McCauley, Sadie J. Zacharek, H. R. Hodges, Jason T. Haberman, Mackenzye Smith, Janeen Thomas, Olivia C. Meisner, Cameron T. Ellis, Catherine A. Hartley, Dylan G. Gee
Summary: This study examined the neural correlates of stressor controllability in young adults. The findings suggest that previous experience of exerting control over a stressor may impact subsequent stress exposure, particularly in the right dorsal anterior insula.
DEVELOPMENT AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Vincent L. Cannataro, Jeffrey D. Mandell, Jeffrey P. Townsend
Summary: Mutational processes in tumors generate distinctive mutation patterns, consisting of neutral passenger mutations and oncogenic drivers that affect the proliferation and survival of cancer cell lineages. The contribution of different mutational processes to tumorigenesis varies among different types of cancers, with some mutations being caused by preventable exogenous processes and others by endogenous processes. These findings provide valuable insights into the mechanisms of tumor development and inform public health strategies.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Helen Rankin Willsey, A. Jeremy Willsey, Belinda Wang, Matthew W. State
Summary: This article explores the genes associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and discusses the use of convergent neuroscience approaches to understand the pathobiology of ASD.
NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Linda Su-Feher, Anna N. Rubin, Shanni N. Silberberg, Rinaldo Catta-Preta, Kenneth J. Lim, Athena R. Ypsilanti, Iva Zdilar, Christopher S. McGinnis, Gabriel L. McKinsey, Thomas E. Rubino, Michael J. Hawrylycz, Carol Thompson, Zev J. Gartner, Luis Puelles, Hongkui Zeng, John L. R. Rubenstein, Alex S. Nord
Summary: Enhancers play a crucial role in driving cell fate specification in the developing brain. In this study, the researchers used enhancer labeling and single-cell RNA sequencing to map and distinguish different neuronal lineages in the mouse embryonic brain. The results showed that combining enhancer activity profiling with scRNA-seq improved the resolution of regional and developmental populations and identified specific neuronal populations derived from different brain regions. This study highlights the importance of enhancers and the power of scRNA-seq in understanding the complex paths of neuronal specification in mouse brain development.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Oncology
Jeffrey D. Mandell, Vincent L. Cannataro, Jeffrey P. Townsend
Summary: In this study, a research team developed an R package called cancereffectsizeR to help researchers estimate the effects of cancer-related somatic mutations. The utility of this method was validated by showing that somatic variants classified as likely pathogenic or pathogenic exhibited higher effects than other variants. Furthermore, the application of this approach in lung adenocarcinoma showed that driver mutations in certain genes reduce selection for alterations in other genes.
Letter
Oncology
Jeffrey D. Mandell, J. Nick Fisk, Ethan Cyrenne, Mina L. Xu, Vincent L. Cannataro, Jeffrey P. Townsend
Article
Developmental Biology
Emily M. Cohodes, Sarah McCauley, Jasmyne C. Pierre, H. R. Hodges, Jason T. Haberman, Isabel Santiuste, Marisa K. Rogers, Jenny Wang, Jeffrey D. Mandell, Dylan G. Gee
Summary: Decades of research highlight the significant impact of adversity on brain and behavioral development. However, existing measures lack detailed assessment of specific features of adversity at different developmental stages. The Dimensional Inventory of Stress and Trauma Across the Lifespan (DISTAL) was developed to comprehensively assess various dimensions of adversity. This instrument provides a novel way to study the relative impact of adversity on brain and behavior across development.
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY
(2023)