Exploring The Early Origins Of The Synapse By Comparative Genomics

Main Category: Genetics
Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 03 Dec 2008 - 10:00 PST

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

One aspect of evolution that often puzzles the non-scientist is how current knowledge can explain the origin of complex structures. The thinking goes that a particular biological feature, such as the human eye, functions as a complete unit and a partial eye would not work.

But new information about the genomes of many organisms has clarified how complex structures can evolve from simpler ones. Over long evolutionary periods, genomes have the remarkable property of creating highly innovative changes by re-arranging the ways that genes are encoded.

Here, I focus on one complex structure-the synapse-and trace its evolutionary origins.

Royal Society Journal Biology Letters

Biology Letters publishes short, innovative and cutting-edge research articles and opinion pieces accessible to scientists from across the biological sciences. The journal is characterised by stringent peer-review, rapid publication and broad dissemination of succinct high-quality research communications.

Biology Letters