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Sensory stimuli drive the maturation and function of the mammalian nervous system in part through the activation of gene expression networks that regulate synapse development and plasticity. These networks have primarily been studied in mice, and it is not known whether there are species- or clade-specific activity-regulated genes that control features of brain development and function. Here we use transcriptional profiling of human fetal brain cultures to identify an activity-dependent secreted factor, Osteocrin (OSTN), that is induced by membrane depolarization of human but not mouse neurons. We find that OSTN has been repurposed in primates through the evolutionary acquisition of DNA regulatory elements that bind the activity-regulated transcription factor MEF2. In addition, we demonstrate that OSTN is expressed in primate neocortex and restricts activity-dependent dendritic growth in human neurons. These findings suggest that, in response to sensory input, OSTN regulates features of neuronal structure and function that are unique to primates., Author(s): Bulent Ataman [1]; Gabriella L. Boulting [1]; David A. Harmin [1]; Marty G. Yang [1]; Mollie Baker-Salisbury [1]; Ee-Lynn Yap [1]; Athar N. Malik [1]; Kevin Mei [1]; Alex [...]

The interaction between myelinating Schwann cells and the axons they ensheath is mediated by cell adhesion molecules of the Cadm/ Necl/SynCAM family. This family consists of four members: Cadm4/Necl4 and Cadml/Necl2 are found in both glia and axons, whereas Cadm2/Necl3 and Cadm3/Necl 1 are expressed by sensory and motor neurons. By generating mice lacking each of the Cadm genes, we now demonstrate that Cadm4 plays a role in the establishment of the myelin unit in the peripheral nervous system. Mice lacking Cadm4 (PGK-Cre/Cadmfl/fl), but not Cadm 1, Cadm2, or Cadm3, develop focal hypermyelination characterized by tomacula and myelin outfold-ings, which are the hallmark of several Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathies. The absence of Cadm4 also resulted in abnormal axon- glial contact and redistribution of ion channels along the axon. These neuropathological features were also found in transgenic mice express-ing a dominant-negative mutant of Cadm4 lacking its cytoplasmic domain in myelinating glia Tg(mbp-Cadm4dCT), as well as in mice lacking Cadm4 specifically in Schwann cells (DHH-Cre/Cadm4fl/fl). Consistent with these abnormalities, both PGK-Cre/Cadm4fl/fl and Tg(mbp-Cadm4dCT) mice exhibit impaired motor function and slower nerve conduction velocity. These findings indicate that Cadm4 regulates the growth of the myelin unit and the organization of the underlying axonal membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence systems today suffer from problems that are widely acknowledged within the discipline: brittleness, inflexibility, the frame problem and others. These problems are due largely to insufficient methodological foresight in system design. In particular, reduction of a system into components and the explicit representation of knowledge (frames, rules etc.) are misused. Research has begun at OZIR to investigate a different class of system: integral and implicitly intelligent. This paper explains the hypotheses involved and the direction of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural circuits are characterized by genetically and functionally diverse cell types. A mechanistic understanding of circuit function is predicated on linking the genetic and physiological properties of individual neurons. However, it remains highly challenging to map the transcriptional properties to functionally heterogeneous neuronal subtypes in mammalian cortical circuits in vivo . Here, we introduce a high-throughput two-photon nuclear phototagging (2P-NucTag) approach optimized for on-demand and indelible labeling of single neurons via a photoactivatable red fluorescent protein following in vivo functional characterization in behaving mice. We demonstrate the utility of this function-forward pipeline by selectively labeling and transcriptionally profiling previously inaccessible 'place' and 'silent' cells in the mouse hippocampus. Our results reveal unexpected differences in gene expression between these hippocampal pyramidal neurons with distinct spatial coding properties. Thus, 2P-NucTag opens a new way to uncover the molecular principles that govern the functional organization of neural circuits.

The development and maintenance of myelinated nerves in the PNS requires constant and reciprocal communication between Schwann cells and their associated axons. However, little is known about the nature of the cell-surface molecules that mediate axon-glial interactions at the onset of myelination and during maintenance of the myelin sheath in the adult. Based on the rationale that such molecules contain a signal sequence in order to be presented on the cell surface, we have employed a eukaryotic-based, signal-sequence-trap approach to identify novel secreted and membrane-bound molecules that are expressed in myelinating and non-myelinating Schwann cells. Using cDNA libraries derived from dbcAMP-stimulated primary Schwann cells and 3-day-old rat sciatic nerve mRNAs, we generated an extensive list of novel molecules expressed in myelinating nerves in the PNS. Many of the identified proteins are cell-adhesion molecules (CAMs) and extracellular matrix (ECM) components, most of which have not been described previously in Schwann cells. In addition, we have identified several signaling receptors, growth and differentiation factors, ecto-enzymes and proteins that are associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi network. We further examined the expression of several of the novel molecules in Schwann cells in culture and in rat sciatic nerve by primer-specific, real-time PCR and in situ hybridization. Our results indicate that myelinating Schwann cells express a battery of novel CAMs that might mediate their interactions with the underlying axons.