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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the pinky-and-the-brain dept.

A change in Pax6 gene expression allows neural progenitor cells in mice embryos to undergo multiple rounds of cell division, and increases the number of neurons in the neocortex:

The developing neocortex contains different types of neural stem and progenitor cells, but one particular class, the basal progenitors, behave differently in small-brained animals such as mice than in large-brained animals such as humans. In humans, basal progenitors can undergo multiple rounds of cell division, thereby substantially increasing neuron number and ultimately the size of the neocortex. In mice, these progenitors typically undergo only one round of cell division, thus limiting the number of neurons produced. A potential cause underlying this difference in the proliferative capacity of basal progenitors could be the differential expression of Pax6 between species. Mouse basal progenitors, in contrast to human, do not express Pax6. "We were very curious to see what would happen if we were to change the expression pattern of Pax6 in developing mouse brain to mimic that observed in large-brained animals", says Fong Kuan Wong, a PhD student in the lab of Wieland Huttner and first author of the [open access] study.

To this end, another PhD student in the lab, Ji-Feng Fei, generated a novel transgenic mouse line. This line provided the basis for altering the expression of Pax6 in the cortical stem cell lineage such that it would be sustained in basal progenitors. The researchers then introduced the Pax6 gene into the stem cells of these mouse embryos. Strikingly, sustaining Pax6 expression in mouse basal progenitors increased their capacity to undergo multiple rounds of cell division, as typically observed in primates. This not only expanded the size of the basal progenitor population in a way somewhat reminiscent to what is seen in large-brained animals. It also resulted in an increase in cortical neurons, notably those in the top layer, another characteristic feature of an expanded neocortex.


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by FunnyItWorkedLastTime on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:05PM

    by FunnyItWorkedLastTime (4713) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:05PM (#221486)

    O
        M
            G..

    " They're Pinky and The Brain
        Yes, Pinky and The Brain
              One is a genius
              The other's insane.
          They're laboratory mice
      Their genes have been spliced
                They're dinky
    They're Pinky and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
          Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
                    Brain."

    Kinda speaks for itself.

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