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Ms.Scholarly4840
Working on this discussion board post: would like some feedback and…
Working on this discussion board post: would like some feedback and or suggestions. Also not sure if I should be citing the podcast in my three interest points.
Discussion Board Assignment
Evolution of the Synapse
Describe at least three of the most interesting things you learned from the Brain Science Podcast, Evolution of the Synapse. Then, find a more recent peer-reviewed article on the topic of the synaptome and describe how it has extended the work described in the podcast.
My Response:
The three most interesting things learned from the Brain Science Podcast: Evolution of the Synapse is that all mammals have the same genes that make synapses, and this is true across all vertebrates. Invertebrates have about half as many synaptic proteins as vertebrates, and 25% of the proteins in human synapses are found in unicellular animals and yeast. This suggests that a lot of the proteins in mammalian synapses are not necessary.
The second interesting point is that synapses are at the end of an axon, and an action potential spike travels down the axon, causing release of neurotransmitter. Within the post-synaptic side of the synapse are many of these proteins, including those in the NMDA receptor complex and the post-synaptic density. The synaptic proteins upstream and downstream have a different evolutionary history. The downstream proteins are the ones that ultimately control protein synthesis or gene expression, which everybody knows is important in aspects of learning and memory.
The last interesting point is the origins of the brain appear to be in a proto-synapse or ancient set of proteins found in unicellular animals. When invertebrates evolved into vertebrates, there was a further addition of synaptic molecules and that has been conserved throughout vertebrate evolution. Synapses are the first part of the brain to ever evolve. Big anatomical brains arose after the evolution of big synapses, but we don’t know if they were a pre-requisite, a necessity, or something absolutely required for big brains to evolve.
Several more recent articles suggest that synapse proteomics is a useful tool for studying synapses, but that there are challenges with using proteomics to study synapses.
Reig-Viader 2018, found that there are very few proteins that are reproducibly altered among independent experiments for any given condition or between conditions, suggesting that we are still far from identifying key pathophysiological mechanisms of mental illness and Grant 2019, found that mutations in synapse proteins change the synaptome architecture leading to behavioral phenotypes.
Reig-Viader, Sindreu, C., & Bayés, À. (2018). Synaptic proteomics as a means to identify the molecular basis of mental illness: Are we getting there? Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 84(Pt B), 353-361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.09.011
Grant. (2019). Synapse diversity and synaptome architecture in human genetic disorders. Human Molecular Genetics, 28(R2), R219-R225. https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddz178
