Punctuated evolution of visual cortical circuits? Evidence from the large rodent Dasyprocta leporina, and the tiny primate Microcebus murinus

Schmidt, Kerstin; Wolf, Fred

doi:10.1016/j.conb.2021.10.007

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 81 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Fundamentally, it would be useful to know which came first; i.e., is the salt-and-pepper or the pinwheel structure the ancestral form? Schmidt and Wolf (19) suggest that the salt-and-pepper map may be the ancestral form and "that convergent evolution of the pinwheel phenotype may have arisen as an adaptation to common visual environments in multiple mammalian clades." They further state "that new primate genes might have led to neocortical expansion, which, in turn, may have promoted high visual acuity (38)(39), along with other higher functions in primates."…”

Section: Importance Of Geneticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies have found that the orientation column layout follows a common architecture in disparate mammalian lineages (i.e., tree shrews, ferrets, galago, and mouse lemurs) (9,18,19), which implies that there is a universal constraining developmental mechanism involved in generating orientation columns. Kaschube et al (9) suggest that the common orientation column layout is a natural consequence of self-organizing cortical networks dominated by long-range interactions in the brain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is an ongoing debate regarding whether this organization developed independently in mammals of the clades Laurasiatheria and Euarchonta or whether this architecture is inherited from a common ancestor but lost in rodents and lagomorphs (Fig. 1A) (18)(19)(20)(21).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Orientation pinwheels in primary visual cortex of a highly visual marsupial

Jung

Almasi²,

Sun

et al. 2022

Sci. Adv.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Primary visual cortices in many mammalian species exhibit modular and periodic orientation preference maps arranged in pinwheel-like layouts. The role of inherited traits as opposed to environmental influences in determining this organization remains unclear. Here, we characterize the cortical organization of an Australian marsupial, revealing pinwheel organization resembling that of eutherian carnivores and primates but distinctly different from the simpler salt-and-pepper arrangement of eutherian rodents and rabbits. The divergence of marsupials from eutherians 160 million years ago and the later emergence of rodents and rabbits suggest that the salt-and-pepper structure is not the primitive ancestral form. Rather, the genetic code that enables complex pinwheel formation is likely widespread, perhaps extending back to the common therian ancestors of modern mammals.

show abstract

Section: Importance Of Geneticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Orientation pinwheels in primary visual cortex of a highly visual marsupial

Jung

Almasi²,

Sun

et al. 2022

Sci. Adv.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to Gould and Eldredge (2016), "Phyletic gradualism was an a priori assertion from the start-it was never "seen" in the rocks; it expressed the cultural and political biases of 19th-century liberalism." More studies that are recent have provided support for the theory of punctuated evolution (Erwin and Anstey, 1995;Palmer et al, 2012;Cross et al, 2016;Gemmell et al, 2019;Schmidt and Wolf, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Rapid acquisition of microorganisms and microbial genes can help explain punctuated evolution

Rosenberg

2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The punctuated mode of evolution posits that evolution occurs in rare bursts of rapid evolutionary change followed by long periods of genetic stability (stasis). The accepted cause for the rapid changes in punctuated evolution is special ecological circumstances – selection forces brought about by changes in the environment. This article presents a complementary explanation for punctuated evolution by the rapid formation of genetic variants in animals and plants by the acquisition of microorganisms from the environment into microbiomes and microbial genes into host genomes by horizontal gene transfer. Several examples of major evolutionary events driven by microorganisms are discussed, including the formation of the first eukaryotic cell, the ability of some animals to digest cellulose and other plant cell-wall complex polysaccharides, dynamics of root system architecture, and the formation of placental mammals. These changes by cooperation were quantum leaps in the evolutionary development of complex bilolgical systems and can contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms underlying punctuated evolution.

show abstract

A Guide for the Multiplexed: The Development of Visual Feature Maps in the Brain

Chorghay

Ruthazer

2023

Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Punctuated evolution of visual cortical circuits? Evidence from the large rodent Dasyprocta leporina, and the tiny primate Microcebus murinus

Cited by 8 publications

References 81 publications

Orientation pinwheels in primary visual cortex of a highly visual marsupial

Orientation pinwheels in primary visual cortex of a highly visual marsupial

Rapid acquisition of microorganisms and microbial genes can help explain punctuated evolution

A Guide for the Multiplexed: The Development of Visual Feature Maps in the Brain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About