Navigating a Complex Landscape: Using Transcriptomics to Parcellate the Human Cortex

Floral development depends on multifactor processes related to genetic, physiological, and ecological pathways. Plants respond to herbivores by activating mechanisms aimed at tolerating, compensating, or avoiding loss of biomass and nutrients, and thereby survive in a complex landscape of interactions. Thus, plants need to overcome trade-offs between development, growth, and reproduction vs. the initiation of anti-herbivore defences. This study aims to assess the frequency of phloem-feeding herbivores in wild populations of the Etruscan honeysuckle (Lonicera etrusca Santi) and study their effects on floral development and reproduction. The incidence of herbivory by the honeysuckle aphid (Hyadaphis passerinii del Guercio) was assessed in three wild populations of the Iberian Peninsula. The effect of herbivory on floral morphology, micromorphology of stigmas and pollen, floral rewards, pollination, and fruit and seed set were studied. The herbivory by aphids reduces the size of flowers and pollen. Additionally, it stops nectar synthesis and causes malformation in pollen and microstructures of stigmas, affecting pollination. As a consequence, fruit set and seed weight are reduced. This work provides evidence of the changes induced by phloem-feeding herbivores in floral development and functioning that affect the ecological processes necessary to maintain the reproductive success of plants.

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Single-cell atlas of early human brain development highlights heterogeneity of human neuroepithelial cells and early radial glia

Nature Neuroscience ◽

10.1038/s41593-020-00794-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ugomma C. Eze ◽

Aparna Bhaduri ◽

Maximilian Haeussler ◽

Tomasz J. Nowakowski ◽

Arnold R. Kriegstein

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Brain Development ◽

Single Cell ◽

Radial Glia ◽

Cortical Development ◽

Cell Types ◽

Human Cortex ◽

Early Stages ◽

Human Brain Development ◽

Neuroepithelial Cells

AbstractThe human cortex comprises diverse cell types that emerge from an initially uniform neuroepithelium that gives rise to radial glia, the neural stem cells of the cortex. To characterize the earliest stages of human brain development, we performed single-cell RNA-sequencing across regions of the developing human brain, including the telencephalon, diencephalon, midbrain, hindbrain and cerebellum. We identify nine progenitor populations physically proximal to the telencephalon, suggesting more heterogeneity than previously described, including a highly prevalent mesenchymal-like population that disappears once neurogenesis begins. Comparison of human and mouse progenitor populations at corresponding stages identifies two progenitor clusters that are enriched in the early stages of human cortical development. We also find that organoid systems display low fidelity to neuroepithelial and early radial glia cell types, but improve as neurogenesis progresses. Overall, we provide a comprehensive molecular and spatial atlas of early stages of human brain and cortical development.

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Temporal hierarchy of intrinsic neural timescales converges with spatial core-periphery organization

Communications Biology ◽

10.1038/s42003-021-01785-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mehrshad Golesorkhi ◽

Javier Gomez-Pilar ◽

Shankar Tumati ◽

Maia Fraser ◽

Georg Northoff

Keyword(s):

Time Window ◽

Human Cortex ◽

The Core ◽

Novel Variant ◽

Open Issue ◽

Task Differences ◽

Spatial Hierarchy ◽

Fundamental Insight ◽

Insight Into ◽

And Task

AbstractThe human cortex exhibits intrinsic neural timescales that shape a temporal hierarchy. Whether this temporal hierarchy follows the spatial hierarchy of its topography, namely the core-periphery organization, remains an open issue. Using magnetoencephalography data, we investigate intrinsic neural timescales during rest and task states; we measure the autocorrelation window in short (ACW-50) and, introducing a novel variant, long (ACW-0) windows. We demonstrate longer ACW-50 and ACW-0 in networks located at the core compared to those at the periphery with rest and task states showing a high ACW correlation. Calculating rest-task differences, i.e., subtracting the shared core-periphery organization, reveals task-specific ACW changes in distinct networks. Finally, employing kernel density estimation, machine learning, and simulation, we demonstrate that ACW-0 exhibits better prediction in classifying a region’s time window as core or periphery. Overall, our findings provide fundamental insight into how the human cortex’s temporal hierarchy converges with its spatial core-periphery hierarchy.

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Erythropoietin Increases GABAA Currents in Human Cortex from TLE Patients

Neuroscience ◽

10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.04.013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 439 ◽

pp. 153-162

Author(s):

Cristina Roseti ◽

Pierangelo Cifelli ◽

Gabriele Ruffolo ◽

Elena Barbieri ◽

Michele Guescini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Cortex

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A complex landscape of inequity in access to urban parks: A literature review

Landscape and Urban Planning ◽

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.05.017 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 153 ◽

pp. 160-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 137

Author(s):

Alessandro Rigolon

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Urban Parks ◽

Complex Landscape

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VII. The exact histological localisation of the visual area of the human cerebral cortex

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B Containing Papers of a Biological Character (1896-1934) ◽

10.1098/rstb.1900.0013 ◽

1900 ◽

Vol 193 (185-193) ◽

pp. 165-222 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Keyword(s):

Cerebral Cortex ◽

County Council ◽

Visual Area ◽

Human Cerebral Cortex ◽

Human Cortex ◽

Physiological Laboratory ◽

Sensory Area ◽

University College ◽

Cortex Cerebri

The object of the present paper is to define by histological methods the exact limitations of the visuo-sensory area of the human cortex cerebri. The investigation to be described has occupied upwards of three years. It was commenced during the summer of 1896 in the pathological laboratory of the County Asylum, Rainhill, Lancashire; it was continued during the next three years in the physiological laboratory of Mason University College, Birmingham; and it has been completed in the pathological laboratory of the London County Council at Claybury. Owing to the remarkable facilities for research granted to workers in the last-named laboratory, it has been possible to bring this investigation to a much more rapid conclusion than would otherwise have been possible. A general summary of the paper follows this introduction, and it is succeeded for convenience of reference by a list of the sections into which the paper is divided.

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