Work

Evo-Devo and Brain Scaling: Candidate Developmental Mechanisms for Variation and Constancy in Vertebrate Brain Evolution

Year: 2011

Type: review

Abstract: Biologists have long been interested in both the regularities and the deviations in the relationship between brain, development, ecology, and behavior between taxa. We first examine some basic information about the observed ranges of fundamental changes in developmental parameters (i.e. neurogenesis timing, cell cycle rates, and gene expression patterns) between taxa. Next, we review what is known about the relative importance of different kinds of developmental mechanisms in producing brain change, focusing on mechanisms of segmentation, local and general features of neurogenesis, and cell cycle kinetics. We suggest that a limited set of developmental alterations of the vertebrate nervous system typically occur and that each kind of developmental change may entail unique anatomical, functional, and behavioral consequences for the organism. Thus, neuroecologists who posit a direct mapping of brain size to behavior should consider that not any change in brain anatomy is possible.

Source: Brain Behavior and Evolution

DOI: 10.1159/000329851

Authors: Christine J. Charvet, Georg F. Striedter, Barbara L. Finlay

Institution: Cornell University

Language: English

Topic: Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms

Subfield: Developmental Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Award: The Developmental Origins of Cerebral Cortical Expansion in Evolution & Disorder