Burkhardt, P.; Jékely, G. Evolution of Synapses and Neurotransmitter Systems: The Divide-and-Conquer Model for Early Neural Cell-Type Evolution. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2021, 71, 127–138, doi:10.1016/j.conb.2021.11.002.
Burkhardt, P.; Jékely, G. Evolution of Synapses and Neurotransmitter Systems: The Divide-and-Conquer Model for Early Neural Cell-Type Evolution. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2021, 71, 127–138, doi:10.1016/j.conb.2021.11.002.
Burkhardt, P.; Jékely, G. Evolution of Synapses and Neurotransmitter Systems: The Divide-and-Conquer Model for Early Neural Cell-Type Evolution. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2021, 71, 127–138, doi:10.1016/j.conb.2021.11.002.
Burkhardt, P.; Jékely, G. Evolution of Synapses and Neurotransmitter Systems: The Divide-and-Conquer Model for Early Neural Cell-Type Evolution. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2021, 71, 127–138, doi:10.1016/j.conb.2021.11.002.
Abstract
Nervous systems evolved around 560 million years ago to coordinate and empower animal bodies. Ctenophores – one of the earliest-branching lineages – are thought to share few neuronal genes with bilaterians and may have evolved neurons convergently. Here we review our current understanding of the evolution of neuronal molecules in non-bilaterians. We also reanalyse single-cell sequencing data in light of new cell-cluster identities from a ctenophore and uncover evidence supporting the homology of one ctenophore neuron-type with neurons in Bilateria. The specific coexpression of the presynaptic proteins Unc13 and RIM with voltage-gated channels, neuropeptides and homeobox genes pinpoint a spiking sensory-peptidergic cell in the ctenophore mouth. Similar Unc13-RIM neurons may have been present in the first eumetazoans to rise to dominance only in stem Bilateria. We hypothesize that the Unc13-RIM lineage ancestrally innervated the mouth and conquered other parts of the body with the rise of macrophagy and predation during the Cambrian explosion.
Biology and Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurology
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