In this episode, we look at the extraordinary evolutionary history of the genes related to the synapse which were present even before the evolution of neurons. Guest: Kenneth S. Kosik, UCSB.
Participants from left to right: Jean-François Gariépy, John Kubie, Kenneth S. Kosik, Leanne Boucher and Steven Miller.
"1:20" The importance of evolution.
"2:53" What is an animal?
"8:41" What is the difference between a colony and an animal?
"13:29" The Cambrian explosion.
"16:29" The diversity of non-bilaterians.
"21:34" The rudiments of a nervous system.
"28:24" Genes related to the synapse are already present in sponges.
"32:52" In situ hybridization reveals the RNA produced from genes.
"41:42" A highly-conserved protein.
"53:07" Genes turned on and off together during development.
"1:09:31" How nervous systems opened a new ecological niche for animals.
http://blog.brainfacts.org/2013/08/neuro-tv-episode-4-the-evolution-of-the-synapse/
Many thanks to our guests! Here is the PNAS paper:
Conaco C, Bassett DS, Zhou H, Arcila ML, Degnan SM, Degnan BM, Kosik KS (2012) Functionalization of a protosynaptic gene expression network. 109 Suppl 1:10612-10618 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22723359
Some Wikipedia reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_gene_expression
Kenneth's UCSB homepage: http://www.mcdb.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/kosik
Leanne's twitter: http://twitter.com/BoucherLeanne
John's blog: http://coronaradiata.net/
Steven's blog: http://neurosciencedc.blogspot.com/
Jean-Francois' twitter: http://twitter.com/JFGariepy
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