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June 12, 2008
The evolutionary mechanisms of the brain are highly complex. The reason humans are more intelligent than other primates lies in the number of nerve cells and neurons, as well as the degree of interconnection between them. Professor Grant’s research team at the UK's Sanger Institute published a cross-species study on the new dimensions of evolutionary complexity in the journal *Nature Neuroscience*. After observing the interconnections between neurons (i.e., synapses, the standard features of neurons), Professor Grant discovered that synapses become more complex as evolutionary scale increases. In worms and flies, synapses mediate simple forms of learning, but in higher animals, synapses are composed of a large number of protein components and facilitate complex learning and pattern recognition. This discovery may open another window for brain research. The biggest question in neuroscience is identifying the design principles that construct the human brain, and Professor Grant’s findings represent one of these principles.
If synapses are sophisticated computer chips, then brainpower is the achievement of these chips' operations. From an evolutionary perspective, the brains of vertebrates not only possess more synapses and neurons, but each neuron is also highly functional. Professor Grant believes that vertebrates are composed of large networks akin to supercomputers, while invertebrates consist of small networks resembling basic computers. Professor Grant’s cross-species investigation included yeast cells, and he found that yeast cells (single-celled microorganisms without a nervous system) contain many of the same proteins found in human brain synapses. These yeast proteins, used to sense environmental changes, may represent the origin of the nervous system—at least, this is how synapses began to function.
Professor Grant suggests that the brain’s computational power may not lie in neural networks but in the complex calculations performed by synapses. The thirteen molecular patterns of vertebrate synapses are composed of over a thousand proteins. Synapses in the brain are not uniform; each region utilizes different combinations of these thousand-plus proteins to form customized synapses. It is hypothesized that each synapse can perform complex calculations based on information transmitted by other neurons. The human brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons, interconnected by 100 trillion synapses. Research has shown that defects in synaptic proteins are the root cause of several mental disorders, with over 50% of synaptic proteins linked to schizophrenia. Professor Grant’s cross-species synaptic analysis is unprecedented in history, and follow-up studies are highly worth observing.
Further reading: Brainpower May Lie in Complexity of Synapses (*The New York Times*)
Source: http://blog. roodo. com/ wallace- yang/ archives/ 6166785. html
Synapses and Brain Power
The evolutionary mechanisms of the brain are highly complex. The reason humans are more intelligent than other primates lies in the number of nerve cells and neurons, as well as the degree of interconnection between them. Professor Grant’s research team at the UK's Sanger Institute published a cross-species study on the new dimensions of evolutionary complexity in the journal *Nature Neuroscience*. After observing the interconnections between neurons (i.e., synapses, the standard features of neurons), Professor Grant discovered that synapses become more complex as evolutionary scale increases. In worms and flies, synapses mediate simple forms of learning, but in higher animals, synapses are composed of a large number of protein components and facilitate complex learning and pattern recognition. This discovery may open another window for brain research. The biggest question in neuroscience is identifying the design principles that construct the human brain, and Professor Grant’s findings represent one of these principles.
If synapses are sophisticated computer chips, then brainpower is the achievement of these chips' operations. From an evolutionary perspective, the brains of vertebrates not only possess more synapses and neurons, but each neuron is also highly functional. Professor Grant believes that vertebrates are composed of large networks akin to supercomputers, while invertebrates consist of small networks resembling basic computers. Professor Grant’s cross-species investigation included yeast cells, and he found that yeast cells (single-celled microorganisms without a nervous system) contain many of the same proteins found in human brain synapses. These yeast proteins, used to sense environmental changes, may represent the origin of the nervous system—at least, this is how synapses began to function.
Professor Grant suggests that the brain’s computational power may not lie in neural networks but in the complex calculations performed by synapses. The thirteen molecular patterns of vertebrate synapses are composed of over a thousand proteins. Synapses in the brain are not uniform; each region utilizes different combinations of these thousand-plus proteins to form customized synapses. It is hypothesized that each synapse can perform complex calculations based on information transmitted by other neurons. The human brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons, interconnected by 100 trillion synapses. Research has shown that defects in synaptic proteins are the root cause of several mental disorders, with over 50% of synaptic proteins linked to schizophrenia. Professor Grant’s cross-species synaptic analysis is unprecedented in history, and follow-up studies are highly worth observing.
Further reading: Brainpower May Lie in Complexity of Synapses (*The New York Times*)
Source: http://blog. roodo. com/ wallace- yang/ archives/ 6166785. html