Welcome to Arisaka Lab's Blog

Why are we here? This is arguably the most fundamental question in human history, and that is the central theme of Arisaka Lab at UCLA.  We are trying to understand the origin of the Universe, life and consciousness altogether by yet-to-be-discovered physics laws.  Here we keep updating the latest news around the world related to our missions.

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New Spin On Origins of Evolvability: Competition to Survive Not Necessary?

Scientists have long observed that species seem to have become increasingly capable of evolving in response to changes in the environment. But computer science researchers now say that the popular explanation of competition to survive in nature may not actually be necessary for evolvability to increase.   In a paper published this week inPLOS ONE, the researchers report that evolvability can increase over generations regardless of whether species are competing for food, habitat or other factors.  Using a simulated model they designed to mimic how organisms evolve, the researchers saw increasing evolvability even without competitive pressure.

Science Direct - Apr. 26, 2013

Joel Lehman, Kenneth O. Stanley.

Evolvability Is Inevitable: Increasing Evolvability without the Pressure to Adapt. 

PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e62186 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062186

Stem Cell Transplant Restores Memory, Learning in Mice

 For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember.
A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first to show that human stem cells can successfully implant themselves in the brain and then heal neurological deficits, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology.  Once inside the mouse brain, the implanted stem cells formed two common, vital types of neurons, which communicate with the chemicals GABA or acetylcholine. "These two neuron types are involved in many kinds of human behavior, emotions, learning, memory, addiction and many other psychiatric issues," says Zhang.

Science Daily, Apr. 21, 2013

Yan Liu, et al.

Medial ganglionic eminence–like cells derived from human embryonic stem cells correct learning and memory deficits. Nature Biotechnology, 2013; DOI:10.1038/nbt.2565

Brain Development Is Guided by Junk DNA That Isn't Really Junk

 Specific DNA once dismissed as junk plays an important role in brain development and might be involved in several devastating neurological diseases, UC San Francisco scientists have found.

Their discovery in mice is likely to further fuel a recent scramble by researchers to identify roles for long-neglected bits of DNA within the genomes of mice and humans alike. While researchers have been busy exploring the roles of proteins encoded by the genes identified in various genome projects, most DNA is not in genes. This so-called junk DNA has largely been pushed aside and neglected in the wake of genomic gene discoveries, the UCSF scientists said. In their own research, the UCSF team studies molecules called long noncoding RNA (lncRNA, often pronounced as "link" RNA), which are made from DNA templates in the same way as RNA from genes.
Science Daily, Apr. 15, 2013

Alexander D. Ramos, et al.
Integration of Genome-wide Approaches Identifies lncRNAs of Adult Neural Stem Cells and Their Progeny In Vivo.
Cell Stem Cell, 2013 DOI:10.1016/j.stem.2013.03.003

Deep Homology of Arthropod Central Complex and Vertebrate Basal Ganglia

Similarities of brain structure, function, and behavior are usually ascribed to convergent evolution. In their review, Strausfeld and Hirth (p. 157) identify multiple commonalities shared by vertebrate basal ganglia and a system of forebrain centers in arthropods called the central complex. The authors conclude that circuits essential to behavioral choice originated very early across phyla.

Nicholas J. Strausfeld, et al
Science 12 April 2013:
Vol. 340 no. 6129 pp. 157-161 , DOI: 10.1126/science.1231828

See-through brains clarify connections

A chemical treatment that turns whole organs transparent offers a big boost to the field of ‘connectomics’ — the push to map the brain’s fiendishly complicated wiring. Scientists could use the technique to view large networks of neurons with unprecedented ease and accuracy. The technology also opens up new research avenues for old brains that were saved from patients and healthy donors.

Helen Shen
Nature 496, 151 (11 April 2013) doi:10.1038/496151a

Kwanghun Chung, et al
Structural and molecular interrogation of intact biological systems
Nature (2013) doi:10.1038/nature12107

A 'Light Switch' in Brain Illuminates Neural Networks

 There are cells in your brain that recognize very specific places, and have that as one of their main jobs. These cells, called place cells, are found in an area behind your temple called the hippocampus. While these cells must be sent information from nearby cells to do their job, so far no one has been able to determine exactly what kind of nerve cells, or neurons, work with place cells to craft the code they create for each location. Neurons come in many different types with specialized functions. Some respond to edges and borders, others to specific locations, others act like a compass and react to which way you turn your head.
Science News Apr. 4, 2013 

Sheng-Jia Zhang*,†, Jing Ye*, Chenglin Miao, Albert Tsao, Ignas Cerniauskas, Debora Ledergerber, May-Britt Moser, Edvard I. Moser. Optogenetic Dissection of Entorhinal-Hippocampal Functional Connectivity. Science, 5 April 2013: Vol. 340 no. 6128 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232627

Systematic Analysis of Neural Projections Reveals Clonal Composition of the Drosophila Brain

During development neurons are generated by sequential divisions of neural stem cells, or neuroblasts. In the insect brain progeny of certain stem cells form lineage-specific sets of projections that arborize in distinct brain regions, called clonal units. Though this raises the possibility that the entire neural network in the brain might be organized in a clone-dependent fashion, only a small portion of clones has been identified.

Our study showed that the insect brain is formed by a composition of cell-lineage-dependent modules. Clonal analysis reveals organized architecture even in those neuropils without obvious structural landmarks.

Current Biology, online 28 March 2013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.03.015

Forgetting in C. elegans Is Accelerated by Neuronal Communication via the TIR-1/JNK-1 Pathway

The control of memory retention is important for proper responses to constantly changing environments, but the regulatory mechanisms underlying forgetting have not been fully elucidated. Our genetic analyses in C. elegans revealed that mutants of the TIR-1/JNK-1 pathway exhibited prolonged retention of olfactory adaptation and salt chemotaxis learning. In olfactory adaptation, conditioning induces attenuation of odor-evoked Ca2+ responses in olfactory neurons, and this attenuation is prolonged in the TIR-1/JNK-1-pathway mutant animals. We also found that a pair of neurons in which the pathway functions is required for the acceleration of forgetting, but not for sensation or adaptation, in wild-type animals. In addition, the neurosecretion from these cells is important for the acceleration of forgetting. Therefore, we propose that these neurons accelerate forgetting through the TIR-1/JNK-1 pathway by sending signals that directly or indirectly stimulate forgetting.

Akitoshi Inoue, et al

Cell Reports, Volume 3, Issue 3, 808-819, 21 March 2013

10.1016/j.celrep.2013.02.019

Epigenetic mechanisms in the development and maintenance of dopaminergic neurons

Mesodiencephalic dopaminergic (mdDA) neurons are located in the ventral mesodiencephalon and are involved in psychiatric disorders and severely affected in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. mdDA neuronal development has received much attention in the last 15 years and many transcription factors involved in mdDA specification have been discovered. More recently however, the impact of epigenetic regulation has come into focus, and it’s emerging that the processes of histone modification and DNA methylation form the basis of genetic switches that operate during mdDA development. Here, we review the epigenetic control of mdDA development, maturation and maintenance. As we highlight, epigenetic mechanisms play a pivotal role in all of these processes and the knowledge gathered from studying epigenetics in these contexts may aid our understanding of mdDA-related pathologies.

Hendrikus J. van Heesbeen, et al
Development140, 1159-1169.   March 15, 2013
doi:10.1242/dev.089359