Journal of neurogenetics最新文献

{"title":"Troy D. Zars: a personal tribute to a scientist, colleague, and friend.","authors":"David J Schulz","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2020.1713118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2020.1713118","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>I knew Troy for nearly 15 years, and in that time I don't recall hearing any childhood stories like those in seemingly every personal statement I've read from aspiring scientists or medical students. No stories about hours spent gazing at an anthill. I don't recall hearing about shelves crowded with insects collected on Styrofoam, or animal skulls kept in a shoebox under his bed. If these collected crania existed, it was more likely because Troy was a crack shot with a pellet gun than a need to know adaptations in the dentition of local squirrel populations. I don't recall hearing about science projects taken to the Iowa State Capitol to share with politely interested legislators. But I do recall hearing about spending the entirety of the daylight hours in the summer, with his brother Doug, finding where the crappie were biting. About crystal clear water on a lake in Minnesota that you didn't quite need to know the exact location of, just in case you were thinking of going and plundering the walleye within. I definitely heard about triumphs as a starting lineman not only for his high school football team, but the mighty Norse of Luther College. I heard about summer warehouse jobs in sweltering Iowa Julys. And I saw, firsthand, love and commitment and family. Troy's story demonstrates that the finest scientists are not just cultivated in narrow STEM curricula that begin at age 5. They are just as likely to be football-playing fishermen, fathers, husbands, and friends who can navigate an operant conditioning paradigm during the week, and dance a polka and produce a magnificent smoked pork shoulder on Saturday. Nature and an independent spirit and a little bit of mischief is a different kind of Magnet school. And it gave us truly one of the best.</p>","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"34 1","pages":"5-8"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2020.1713118","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37789437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Playing the genome card.","authors":"Ari Berkowitz","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1706093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1706093","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the 1990s, prominent biologists and journalists predicted that by 2020 each of us would carry a genome card, which would allow physicians to access our entire genome sequence and routinely use this information to diagnose and treat common and debilitating conditions. This is not yet the case. Why not? Common and debilitating diseases are rarely caused by single-gene mutations, and this was recognized before these genome card predictions had been made. Debilitating conditions, including common psychiatric disorders, are typically caused either by rare mutations or by complex interactions of many genes, each having a small effect, and epigenetic, environmental, and microbial factors. In such cases, having a complete genome sequence may have limited utility in diagnosis and treatment. Genome sequencing technologies have transformed biological research in many ways, but had a much smaller effect than expected on treatments of common diseases. Thus, early proponents of genome sequencing effectively \"mis-promised\" its benefits. One reason may be that there are incentives for both biologists and journalists to tell simple stories, including the idea of relatively simple genetic causation of common, debilitating diseases. These incentives may have led to misleading predictions, which to some extent continue today. Although the Human Genome Project has facilitated biological research generally, the mis-promising of medical benefits, at least for treating common and debilitating disorders, could undermine support for scientific research over the long term.</p>","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"34 1","pages":"189-197"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1706093","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37488060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optogenetics: Illuminating neuronal circuits of memory formation.","authors":"Nadine Ehmann,&nbsp;Dennis Pauls","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1708352","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1708352","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Optogenetics has revolutionized the field of neuroscience. Within the last decades the development and use of optogenetics gained enormous importance for the identification of functional synaptic connections. Employing optogenetic tools in anatomically defined pathways offers a straightforward strategy to demonstrate neuronal sufficiency, even during state-dependent activity within a neuronal network. Hunger, thirst, fatigue or motivation each impact an animal's behavior and determine the internal states that tune neuronal pathways to generate context-appropriate actions. In particular, higher order brain processes, such as learning and memory formation, are often state-dependent and here optogenetics can provide the means to identify and investigate the neuronal pathways involved. Our aim with this article is to focus on the possibilities and limitations of optogenetic tools for dissecting the neuronal circuits underlying learning and memory formation in <i>Drosophila</i>, while emphasizing what these approaches can tell us about neuronal circuit function in general.</p>","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"34 1","pages":"47-54"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1708352","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37518458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toward nanoscale localization of memory engrams in <i>Drosophila</i>.","authors":"Yoshinori Aso,&nbsp;Gerald M Rubin","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2020.1715973","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2020.1715973","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Mushroom Body (MB) is the primary location of stored associative memories in the Drosophila brain. We discuss recent advances in understanding the MB's neuronal circuits made using advanced light microscopic methods and cell-type-specific genetic tools. We also review how the compartmentalized nature of the MB's organization allows this brain area to form and store memories with widely different dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"34 1","pages":"151-155"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2020.1715973","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37582726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Minimal selfhood","authors":"R. D. V. Glasgow","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1672680","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1672680","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This Perspective article outlines a concept of minimal selfhood. A central claim is that minimal selfhood is not dependent on possession of a brain, a nervous system or neurons. It will be argued instead that minimal selfhood requires intrinsically reflexive activity, specifically taking the form of self-maintenance, self-reproduction and self-containment. The implications of this in thinking about animal behavior and consciousness will be briefly discussed.","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"34 1","pages":"198 - 202"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1672680","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59718625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1673387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1673387","url":null,"abstract":"It has come to the authors’ attention that the original link for IowaFLI Tracker listed in the acknowledgements (www.journalofneurogenetics.org) no longer allows downloads of the software. The authors have uploaded an updated version of IowaFLI Tracker v3.0 to the github repository. This version includes minor changes to support analyzing multiple regions of interest (ROI) as well as improvement in video input and data output performance. IowaFLI Tracker v3.0 source code and stand-alone application can now be downloaded from https://github.com/IyengarAtulya/IowaFLI_tracker/releases/","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"33 1","pages":"218 - 218"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1673387","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48717127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dopaminergic gene analysis indicates influence of inattention but not IQ in executive dysfunction of Indian ADHD probands","authors":"S. Maitra, M. Chatterjee, S. Sinha, K. Mukhopadhyay","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1672679","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1672679","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Organizational inefficiency and inattention are speculated to be the reason for executive deficit (ED) of ADHD probands. Even with average IQ, probands often perform poorly due to higher inattention. Pharmacotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and counselling provide only symptomatic relief. Several candidate genes showed involvement with ADHD; the most consistent are dopamine receptor 4 (DRD4) and solute carrier family 6 member 3 (SLC6A3). We analyzed association of rarely investigated DRD4 and SLC6A3 variants with ADHD core traits in Indo-Caucasoid probands. ED, inattention, organizational efficiency, and IQ were measured by Barkley Deficit in Executive Functioning-Child & Adolescent scale, DSM-IV-TR, Conners’ Parent Rating Scale-revised, and WISC respectively. Target sites were analyzed by PCR, RFLP, and/or Sanger sequencing of genomic DNA. DRD4 variants mostly affected inattention while SLC6A3 variants showed association with IQ. Few DRD4 and SLC6A3 variants showed dichotomous association with IQ and inattention. DRD4 Exon3 VNTR >4R showed negative impact on all traits excepting IQ. Inattention showed correlation with attention span, organizational efficiency, and ED, while IQ failed to do so. We infer that IQ and attention could be differentially regulated by dopaminergic gene variants affecting functional efficiency in ADHD and the two traits should be considered together for providing better rehabilitation.","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"33 1","pages":"209 - 217"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1672679","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43901862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Heritable natural variation of light/dark preference in an outbred zebrafish population","authors":"Amelia D. Dahlén, Mahendra Wagle, M. Zarei, Su Guo","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1663846","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1663846","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Anxiety is a fear-like response to stimuli perceived to be threatening. Excessive or uncontrollable anxiety is a debilitating psychiatric disorder which affects many people throughout their lifetime. In unravelling the complex genetic and environmental regulations of anxiety-like phenotypes, models measuring the natural dark avoidance of larval zebrafish have shed light on the individual variation and heritability of this anxiety-related trait. Using the light/dark choice paradigm and selective breeding, this study aims to validate previous findings of the variable (VDA) and strong dark aversion (SDA) heritability in AB-WT larval zebrafish using the outbred zebrafish strain EK, which offers more genetic diversity to aid in future molecular mapping efforts. 190 larvae (6 days post fertilization [dpf] and 7 dpf) were tested across four trials and divided into variable (VDA), medium (MDA) and strong (SDA) dark aversion for further in-crosses. VDA and MDA larvae became more explorative with time, whereas SDA larvae rarely left the preferred light zone. The SDA and VDA in-crosses significantly increased the respective phenotypes in the second generation of larvae, whereas VDA × MDA inter-crosses did not. For the second-generation SDA cohort, dark aversion correlated with increased thigmotaxis, which reinforces SDA as an anxiety-like phenotype. Our finding that the dark aversion trait and SDA and VDA phenotypes are heritable in an outbred zebrafish population lays an important foundation for future studies of genetic underpinnings using whole-genome mapping methods. This conserved fear/anxiety-like response in a highly accessible model organism also allows for further pharmacological and behavioral studies to elucidate the etiology of anxiety and the search for novel therapeutics for anxiety disorders.","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"33 1","pages":"199 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2019-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1663846","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42773639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Milk-whey diet substantially suppresses seizure-like phenotypes of <i>para^Shu</i>, a <i>Drosophila</i> voltage-gated sodium channel mutant.","authors":"Junko Kasuya,&nbsp;Atulya Iyengar,&nbsp;Hung-Lin Chen,&nbsp;Patrick Lansdon,&nbsp;Chun-Fang Wu,&nbsp;Toshihiro Kitamoto","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1597082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1597082","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The <i>Drosophila</i> mutant <i>para^Shu</i> harbors a dominant, gain-of-function allele of the voltage-gated sodium channel gene, <i>paralytic</i> (<i>para</i>). The mutant flies display severe seizure-like phenotypes, including neuronal hyperexcitability, spontaneous spasms, ether-induced leg shaking, and heat-induced convulsions. We unexpectedly found that two distinct food recipes used routinely in the <i>Drosophila</i> research community result in a striking difference in severity of the <i>para^Shu</i> phenotypes. Namely, when <i>para^Shu</i> mutants were raised on the diet originally formulated by Edward Lewis in 1960, they showed severe neurological defects as previously reported. In contrast, when they were raised on the diet developed by Frankel and Brousseau in 1968, these phenotypes were substantially suppressed. Comparison of the effects of these two well-established food recipes revealed that the diet-dependent phenotypic suppression is accounted for by milk whey, which is present only in the latter. Inclusion of milk whey in the diet during larval stages was critical for suppression of the adult <i>para^Shu</i> phenotypes, suggesting that this dietary modification affects development of the nervous system. We also found that milk whey has selective effects on other neurological mutants. Among the behavioral phenotypes of different <i>para</i> mutant alleles, those of <i>para^GEFS+</i> and <i>para^bss</i> were suppressed by milk whey, while those of <i>para^DS</i> and <i>para^ts1</i> were not significantly affected. Overall, our study demonstrates that different diets routinely used in <i>Drosophila</i> labs could have considerably different effects on neurological phenotypes of <i>Drosophila</i> mutants. This finding provides a solid foundation for further investigation into how dietary modifications affect development and function of the nervous system and, ultimately, how they influence behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"33 3","pages":"164-178"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1597082","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37244997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Axon length maintenance and synapse integrity are regulated by c-AMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) during larval growth of the drosophila sensory neurons.","authors":"Tijana Copf,&nbsp;Mildred Kamara,&nbsp;Tadmiri Venkatesh","doi":"10.1080/01677063.2019.1586896","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01677063.2019.1586896","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Axonal extension and synaptic targeting are usually completed during early development, but the axonal length and synaptic integrity need to be actively maintained during later developmental stages and the adult life. Failure in the axonal length maintenance and the subsequent axonal degeneration have been associated with neurological disorders, but currently little is known about the genetic factors controlling this process. Here, we show that regulated intracellular levels of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) are critical for the axon maintenance during the transition from the early to the later larval stages in the Drosophila class IV dendritic arborization (da) sensory neurons. Our data indicate that when the intracellular levels of PKA are increased via genetic manipulations, these peripheral neurons initially form synapses with wild-type appearance, at their predicted ventral nerve cord (VNC) target sites (in the first and second instar larval stages), but that their synapses disintegrate, and the axons retract and become fragmented in the subsequent larval stages (third larval stage). The affected axonal endings at the disintegrated synaptic sites still express the characteristic presynaptic and cytoskeletal markers such as Bruchpilot and Fascin, indicating that the synapse had been initially properly formed, but that it later lost its integrity. Finally, the phenotype is significantly more prominent in the axons of the neurons whose cell bodies are located in the posterior body segments. We propose that the reason for this is the fact that during the larval development the posterior neurons face a much greater challenge while trying to keep up with the fast-paced growth of the larval body, and that PKA is critical for this process. Our data reveal PKA as a novel factor in the axonal length and synapse integrity maintenance in sensory neurons. These results could be of help in understanding neurological disorders characterized by destabilized synapses.</p>","PeriodicalId":16491,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurogenetics","volume":"33 3","pages":"157-163"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01677063.2019.1586896","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37126622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}