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Researcher | Institution | Original publication | Reading recommendations | Beyond | CitationRÜDIGER KLEIN and his research group are interested in the question of how newly born cells, so-called neurons, communicate with other cells during embryonic development and how this communication shapes the brain. During development, neurons explore their environment for the presence of chemical signals. One family of such chemical signals are called FLRTs. It is assumed that these FLRT proteins tell the neurons in which way to migrate from the inner to the outer layer of the cortex and, thereby, control cortex folding. As Rüdiger Klein explains in this video, the researchers manipulated genes of mice to find out how exactly this mechanism works. Their results suggest that there is an inverse correlation between the levels of FLRT and the degree of cortex folding: the less FLRT, the more folding we see. Their findings offer new insights into the mechanisms of the folding of the human brain.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10459
Institution
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence
The Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (MPI-BI) is devoted to basic research on topics in behavioral ecology, evolutionary research and neuroscience. Around 500 employees from more than 50 nations study how animal organisms acquire, store, apply and pass on knowledge about their environment in order to find ever-new solutions to problems and adapt to a constantly changing environment.
The MPI-BI was established in January 2022 as the result of the merger of the two Max Planck Institutes of Neurobiology and for Ornithology. The legal founding of the institute takes place on January 1, 2023.
Original publication
Regulation of Cerebral Cortex Folding by Controlling Neuronal Migration via FLRT Adhesion Molecules
Cell
Published in 2017
Reading recommendations
Cortical Folding: When, Where, How, and Why?
Annual Review of Neuroscience
Published in 2015
Growth and Folding of the Mammalian Cerebral Cortex: From Molecules to Malformations
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Published in 2014
FLRT Structure: Balancing Repulsion and Cell Adhesion in Cortical and Vascular Development
Neuron
Published in 2014
FLRT2 and FLRT3 Act as Repulsive Guidance Cues for Unc5-positive Neurons
The EMBO Journal
Published in 2011
Beyond
A Ground-breaking Scientific Revolution
An Alarming Challenge for Society
If I Had a Second Life
A Personal Reading Recommendation