Humans and flies employ very similar mechanisms for brain development
and function

Date:
August 4, 2020
Source:
King's College London
Summary:
A new study has shown that humans, mice and flies share the same
fundamental genetic mechanisms that regulate the formation and
function of brain areas involved in attention and movement control.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
With these new findings scientists can potentially better understand the
subtle changes that can occur in genes and brain circuits that can lead
to mental health disorders such as anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.


========================================================================== Although physically very different, research has found that the brains
of flies, mice and humans are similar in how they form and how they
function. Data has shown that the genetic mechanisms that underlie the
brain development of insects and mammals are very similar but this can be interpreted in two different ways, where some believe it provides evidence
of one single ancestor for both mammals and insects and others think it
could support the theory that brains evolved multiple times independently.

Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS), this collaborative study between King's College London, University of Arizona, University of Leuven and Leibniz Institute DSMZ
has provided strong evidence that the mechanisms that regulate genetic
activity required for the formation of brain areas important to control behaviour, is the same for insects and mammals.

Most strikingly they have demonstrated that when these regulatory
mechanisms are inhibited or impaired in insects and mammals they
experience very similar behavioural problems. This indicates that the
same building blocks that control the activity of genes are essential to
both the formation of brain circuits and the behaviour-related functions
they perform. According to the researchers this provides evidence that
these mechanisms have been established in one common ancestor.

Senior author on the study, Dr Frank Hirth from the Institute of
Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London said:
'To my knowledge this is the first study that provides evidence of the
source of similarities between human and fly brains, how they form and
how they function. Our research shows that the brain circuits essential
for coordinated behaviour are put in place by similar mechanisms in
humans, flies and mice. This indicates that the evolution of their very different brains can be traced back to a common ancestral brain more than
a half billion years ago.' Nicholas Strausfeld, Regents Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Arizona and a co-author on the study
said: 'The jigsaw puzzle of how the brain evolved still lacks an image
on the box, but the pieces currently being added suggest a very early
origin of essential circuits that, over an immense span of time have
been maintained, albeit with modification, across the great diversity
of brains we see today.' The study focussed on those areas of the brain
known as the deutocerebral- tritocerebral boundary (DTB) in flies and the midbrain-hindbrain boundary (MHB) in vertebrates including humans. Using genomic data, researchers identified the genes that play a major role in
the formation of the brain circuits that are responsible for basic motion
in the DTB in flies and MHB in humans. They then ascertained the parts
of the genome that control when and where these genes are expressed,
otherwise known as cis-regulatory elements.

The researchers found that these cis-regulatory elements are very similar
in flies, mice and humans, indicating that they share the same fundamental genetic mechanism by which these brain areas develop. By manipulating
the relevant genomic regions in flies so they no longer regulate the
genes appropriately, the researchers showed a subsequent impairment in behaviour. This corresponds to findings from research with people where mutations in gene regulatory sequences or the regulated genes themselves
have been associated with behavioural problems including anxiety and
autism spectrum disorders.

Dr Hirth commented: 'For many years researchers have been trying to
find the mechanistic basis behind behaviour and I would say that we have discovered a crucial part of the jigsaw puzzle by identifying these basic genetic regulatory mechanisms required for midbrain circuit formation
and function. If we can understand these very small, very basic building blocks, how they form and function, this will help find answers to what
happens when things go wrong at a genetic level to cause these disorders.'

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by King's_College_London. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jessika C. Bridi, Zoe N. Ludlow, Benjamin Kottler, Beate Hartmann,
Lies
Vanden Broeck, Jonah Dearlove, Markus Go"ker, Nicholas
J. Strausfeld, Patrick Callaerts, Frank Hirth. Ancestral regulatory
mechanisms specify conserved midbrain circuitry in arthropods
and vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
2020; 201918797 DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.1918797117 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200804085903.htm

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