A Dual Role for Behavior in Evolution and Shaping Organismal Selective Environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-362
Author(s):  
William T. Wcislo
Keyword(s):  
External World ◽  
Dual Role ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Behavioral Traits ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Developmental Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioral Transitions ◽  
Genomic Studies ◽  
Shape Selective ◽  
Adaptive Decision Making

The hypothesis that evolved behaviors play a determining role in facilitating and impeding the evolution of other traits has been discussed for more than 100 years with little consensus beyond an agreement that the ideas are theoretically plausible in accord with the Modern Synthesis. Many recent reviews of the genomic, epigenetic, and developmental mechanisms underpinning major behavioral transitions show how facultative expression of novel behaviors can lead to the evolution of obligate behaviors and structures that enhance behavioral function. Phylogenetic and genomic studies indicate that behavioral traits are generally evolutionarily more labile than other traits and that they help shape selective environments on the latter traits. Adaptive decision-making to encounter resources and avoid stress sources requires specific sensory inputs, which behaviorally shape selective environments by determining those features of the external world that are biologically relevant. These recent findings support the hypothesis of a dual role for behavior in evolution and are consistent with current evolutionary theory.

scholarly journals An internal model approach for motor behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 356-371
Author(s):  
Cláudio M. F. Leite ◽  
Carlos E. Campos ◽  
Crislaine R. Couto ◽  
Herbert Ugrinowitsch
Keyword(s):  
Motor Skills ◽  
Internal Model ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
External World ◽  
Internal Models ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Internal Coherence ◽  
Motor Actions ◽  
Model Approach

Interacting with the environment requires a remarkable ability to control, learn, and adapt motor skills to ever-changing conditions. The intriguing complexity involved in the process of controlling, learning, and adapting motor skills has led to the development of many theoretical approaches to explain and investigate motor behavior. This paper will present a theoretical approach built upon the top-down mode of motor control that shows substantial internal coherence and has a large and growing body of empirical evidence: The Internal Models. The Internal Models are representations of the external world within the CNS, which learn to predict this external world, simulate behaviors based on sensory inputs, and transform these predictions into motor actions. We present the Internal Models’ background based on two main structures, Inverse and Forward models, explain how they work, and present some applicability.

scholarly journals Synthesis, secretion, and perception of abscisic acid regulates stress responses in Chlorella sorokiniana

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Khasin ◽  
Rebecca E. Cahoon ◽  
Sophie Alvarez ◽  
Richard Beckeris ◽  
Seong-il Eyun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Abscisic Acid ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Higher Plants ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Gene Expression Profiles ◽  
Chlorella Sorokiniana ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Abiotic Stressors ◽  
Dna Replication And Repair ◽  
Genomic Studies

AbstractAbscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone that has been extensively characterized in higher plants for its roles in seed and bud dormancy, leaf abscission, and stress responses. Genomic studies have identified orthologs for ABA-related genes throughout the Viridiplantae, including in unicellular algae; however, the role of ABA in algal physiology has not been characterized, and the existence of such a role has been a matter of dispute. In this study, we demonstrate that ABA is involved in regulating algal stress responses. Chlorella sorokiniana strain UTEX 1230 contains genes orthologous to those of higher plants which are essential for ABA biosynthesis, sensing, and degradation. RNAseq-based transcriptomic studies reveal that treatment with ABA induces dramatic changes in gene expression profiles, including the induction of a subset of genes involved in DNA replication and repair, a phenomenon which has been demonstrated in higher plants. Pretreatment of C. sorokiniana cultures with ABA exerts a protective effect on cell viability in response to ultraviolet radiation. Additionally, C. sorokiniana produces and secretes biologically relevant amounts of both ABA and the oxylipin 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) into the growth medium in response to abiotic stressors. Taken together, these phenomena suggest that ABA signaling evolved as an intercellular stress response signaling molecule in eukaryotic microalgae prior to the evolution of multicellularity and colonization of land.

scholarly journals The Experience of Agency

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 242-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Haggard ◽  
Manos Tsakiris
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Studies ◽  
External World ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
Temporal Experience ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Motor Commands ◽  
External Events

The experience of agency refers to the experience of being in control both of one's own actions and, through them, of events in the external world. Recent experimental studies have investigated how people recognise a particular event as being caused by their own action or by that of another person. These studies suggest that people match sensory inputs to a prediction based on the action they are performing. Other studies have contrasted voluntary actions to physically similar but passive body movements. These studies suggest that voluntary action triggers wide-ranging changes in the spatial and temporal experience not only of one's own body but also of external events. Prediction and monitoring of the consequences of one's own motor commands produces characteristic experiences that form our normal, everyday feeling of being in control of our life. We conclude by discussing the implications of recent psychological work for our notions of responsibility for action.

scholarly journals Clinical and molecular heterogeneity of pineal parenchymal tumors: a consensus study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Y. Liu ◽  
Bryan K. Li ◽  
Elke Pfaff ◽  
Brian Gudenas ◽  
Alexandre Vasiljevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Molecular Heterogeneity ◽  
Genomic Features ◽  
Pineal Parenchymal Tumors ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Genomic Studies ◽  
Microrna Processing ◽  
Bioinformatic Approaches ◽  
Shed Light

Background: Recent genomic studies have shed light on the biology and inter-tumoral heterogeneity underlying pineal parenchymal tumors, in particular pineoblastomas (PBs) and pineal parenchymal tumors of intermediate differentiation (PPTIDs). Previous reports, however, had modest sample sizes and lacked power to fully integrate molecular findings, clinical factors and patient outcome. The different subgroup structures proposed also called for a need to reconcile and reach consensus on a robust and relevant classification system. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis on 221 patients with molecularly characterized PBs and PPTIDs. DNA methylation profiles were analyzed through complementary bioinformatic approaches and molecular subgrouping was harmonized. Demographic, clinical and genomic features of patients and samples from these consensus subgroups were annotated. Findings: Four clinically and biologically relevant consensus PB subgroups were defined: PB-miRNA1 (n=96), PB-miRNA2 (n=23), PB-MYC/FOXR2 (n=34) and PB-RB1 (n=25); with PPTID (n=43) remaining as a molecularly distinct entity. Genomic and transcriptomic profiling allowed the characterization of oncogenic drivers for individual subgroups, specifically, alterations in the microRNA processing pathway in PB-miRNA1/2, MYC amplification and FOXR2 overexpression in PB-MYC/FOXR2, RB1 alteration in PB-RB1, and KBTBD4 insertion in PPTID. Age at diagnosis, sex predilection and metastatic status varied significantly among tumor subgroups. While patients from PB-miRNA2 and PPTID had superior outcome, survival for patients with PB-miRNA1 was intermediate and those from PB-MYC/FOXR2 and PB-RB1 dismal. Interpretation: We systematically interrogated the clinical and molecular heterogeneity within pineal parenchymal tumors and proposed a consensus nomenclature for disease subgroups, laying the groundwork for future clinical and preclinical studies as well as routine use in tumor classification.

scholarly journals CRISPR Meets Zebrafish: Accelerating the Discovery of New Therapeutic Targets

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 552-567
Author(s):  
Davide Rubbini ◽  
Carles Cornet ◽  
Javier Terriente ◽  
Vincenzo Di Donato
Keyword(s):  
Drug Targets ◽  
Balance Sheet ◽  
Therapeutic Targets ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Functional Genomic ◽  
Innovative Drug ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Genomic Studies ◽  
New Therapeutic Targets ◽  
Genetic Stratification

Bringing a new drug to the market costs an average of US$2.6 billion and takes more than 10 years from discovery to regulatory approval. Despite the need to reduce cost and time to increase productivity, pharma companies tend to crowd their efforts in the same indications and drug targets. This results in the commercialization of drugs that share the same mechanism of action (MoA) and, in many cases, equivalent efficacies among them—an outcome that helps neither patients nor the balance sheet of the companies trying to bring therapeutics to the same patient population. Indeed, the discovery of new therapeutic targets, based on a deeper understanding of the disease biology, would likely provide more innovative MoAs and potentially greater drug efficacies. It would also bring better chances for identifying appropriate treatments according to the patient’s genetic stratification. Nowadays, we count with an enormous amount of unprocessed information on potential disease targets that could be extracted from omics data obtained from patient samples. In addition, hundreds of pharmacological and genetic screenings have been performed to identify innovative drug targets. Traditionally, rodents have been the animal models of choice to perform functional genomic studies. The high experimental cost, combined with the low throughput provided by those models, however, is a bottleneck for discovering and validating novel genetic disease associations. To overcome these limitations, we propose that zebrafish, in conjunction with the use of CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing tools, could streamline functional genomic processes to bring biologically relevant knowledge on innovative disease targets in a shorter time frame.

Investigation of thin sections of biological standards by EDX, EELS, and Auger electron spectroscopy

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-185
Author(s):  
S. Lehner ◽  
H.E. Bauer ◽  
R. Wurster ◽  
H. Seiler
Keyword(s):  
Processing System ◽  
Beam Current ◽  
Beam Diameter ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Energy Filtering ◽  
Low Viscosity ◽  
Carbon Foils ◽  
Electron Microscopical ◽  
Exchange Membrane

In order to compare different microanalytical techniques commercially available cation exchange membrane SC-1 (Stantech Inc, Palo Alto), was loaded with biologically relevant elements as Na, Mg, K, and Ca, respectively, each to its highest possible concentration, given by the number concentration of exchangeable binding sites (4 % wt. for Ca). Washing in distilled water, dehydration through a graded series of ethanol, infiltration and embedding in Spurr’s low viscosity epoxy resin was followed by thin sectioning. The thin sections (thickness of about 50 nm) were prepared on carbon foils and mounted on electron microscopical finder grids.The samples were analyzed with electron microprobe JXA 50A with transmitted electron device, EDX system TN 5400, and on line operating image processing system SEM-IPS, energy filtering electron microscope CEM 902 with EELS/ESI and Auger spectrometer 545 Perkin Elmer.With EDX, a beam current of some 10-10 A and a beam diameter of about 10 nm, a minimum-detectable mass of 10-20 g Ca seems within reach.

Quantification of cell-surface expressed antigenic sites with 5-nm gold markers: Getting close to biologically relevant data

1989 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 1050-1051
Author(s):  
Etienne de Harven ◽  
Hilary Christensen ◽  
Richard Leung ◽  
Cameron Ackerley
Keyword(s):  
Cell Surface ◽  
Human Peripheral Blood ◽  
Contour Length ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Gold Particles ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Entire Cell ◽  
Electron Imaging ◽  
Cell Contour

The T-derived subset of human peripheral blood normal lymphocytes has been selected as a model system to study the usefulness of 5 nm gold markers for quantification of single epitopes expressed on cell surfaces. The chosen epitopes are parts of the CD3 and CD5 molecules and can be specifically identified by hybridoma produced monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs; LEU-4 and LEU-1; Becton-Dick- inson, Mountain view, CA) . An indirect immunolabeling procedure, with goat anti-murine IgG adsorbed on the surface of 5 nm colloidal gold particles (GAM-G5, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Beerse, Belgium) has been used. Backscattered Electron Imaging (BEI) in a field emission scanning electronmicroscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy of thin sections of lymphocytes labeled before plastic embedding, were both used to identify and quantitate gold labeled cell surface sites, Estimating that the thickness of “silver” sections is approximately 60 nm and counting the number of gold particles on the entire cell perimeter, we calculated that, for LEU-4, the number of markers per um2 of cell surface is in the 140-160 range (Fig.l). Cell contour length measurements indicated that the surface of one lymphocyte is approximately 130-160 um2 that of a smooth sphere of identical diameter, reflecting the role of microvilli in expanding the surface area. The total number of gold labeled sites on the surface of one lymphocyte averages, therefore between 20,000 and 24,000 per cell.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document