The origin and evolution of synapses
- 9 September 2009
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Reviews Neuroscience
- Vol. 10 (10), 701-712
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2717
Abstract
Understanding the evolutionary origins of behaviour is a central aim in the study of biology and may lead to insights into human disorders. Synaptic transmission is observed in a wide range of invertebrate and vertebrate organisms and underlies their behaviour. Proteomic studies of the molecular components of the highly complex mammalian postsynaptic machinery point to an ancestral molecular machinery in unicellular organisms--the protosynapse--that existed before the evolution of metazoans and neurons, and hence challenges existing views on the origins of the brain. The phylogeny of the molecular components of the synapse provides a new model for studying synapse diversity and complexity, and their implications for brain evolution.Keywords
This publication has 118 references indexed in Scilit:
- Targeted tandem affinity purification of PSD‐95 recovers core postsynaptic complexes and schizophrenia susceptibility proteinsMolecular Systems Biology, 2009
- Application of a Translational Profiling Approach for the Comparative Analysis of CNS Cell TypesCell, 2008
- A Translational Profiling Approach for the Molecular Characterization of CNS Cell TypesCell, 2008
- Human uniqueness: genome interactions with environment, behaviour and cultureNature Reviews Genetics, 2008
- Cadherins and catenins at synapses: roles in synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticityTrends in Neurosciences, 2008
- Pre- and post-synaptic mechanisms of synaptic strength homeostasis revealed by slowpoke and shaker K+ channel mutations in DrosophilaNeuroscience, 2008
- Evo-Devo: Variations on Ancestral ThemesCell, 2008
- Neurexin–neuroligin signaling in synapse developmentCurrent Opinion in Neurobiology, 2007
- The proteomes of neurotransmitter receptor complexes form modular networks with distributed functionality underlying plasticity and behaviourMolecular Systems Biology, 2006
- The Unicellular Ancestry of Animal DevelopmentDevelopmental Cell, 2004