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Researchers uncover novel mechanism that balances the sizes of functional areas in the brain
Date:9/10/2007

s voluntary movement, as well as having a central role in higher cognitive functions. The area right above the ear trades in sounds and speech, while the somatosensory area located in the middle top of the head interprets information about touch and pain.

In previous studies, the OLeary lab discovered that Emx2, a gene common to mice and men as is COUP-TF1, instructs progenitor cells to develop into visual neurons. Emx2 is the gold standard for genes that impart area identity to cortical neurons, says OLeary. When we increased the amount of Emx2, the visual area expanded at the expense of the frontal and somatosensory areas and vice versa.

Just like the Emx2 gene, COUP-TF1 is normally most active in the back of the cortex, with its activity gradually tapering off toward the front. Both genes code for transcription factors which operate by controlling a cascade of other genes hinting at a possible role for COUP-TF1 in area patterning as well.

Completely eliminating the gene in lab mice through genetic engineering a mainstay of scientists trying to figure out the function of a particular gene did not clarify the roles of COUP-TF1. Mice without COUP-TF1 have many defects and die a few days after birth before functional areas can be defined, explains co-first author Shen-Ju Chou, a postdoctoral researcher in the OLeary lab.

So OLeary and his team collaborated with Italian researchers, led by Dr. Michele Studer, who is co-senior author with OLeary of the study, to develop mice in which COUP-TF1 can be selectively removed from progenitor cells in the cortex just before they start generating cortical neurons. The mice survive to be adults and appear quite normal. Their cortical landscape, however, is a different matter.

We were surprised by what we saw, Chou says. The frontal areas took over most of the cortex, while the sensory areas were drastically reduced in size and relegated to a small domain at the back of the brain
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Contact: Gina Kirchweger
Kirchweger@salk.edu
858-453-4100 x1340
Salk Institute
Source:Eurekalert

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