There are more than a thousand trillion specific synaptic connections in the human brain and over a million new specific connections are formed every second during the early years of life. The assembly of these stagge...There are more than a thousand trillion specific synaptic connections in the human brain and over a million new specific connections are formed every second during the early years of life. The assembly of these staggeringly complex neuronal circuits requires specific cell-surface molecular tags to endow each neuron with a unique identity code to discriminate self from non-self. The clustered protocadherin(Pcdh) genes, which encode a tremendous diversity of cell-surface assemblies, are candidates for neuronal identity tags. We describe the adaptive evolution,genomic structure, and regulation of expression of the clustered Pcdhs. We specifically focus on the emerging3-D architectural and biophysical mechanisms that generate an enormous number of diverse cell-surface Pcdhs as neural codes in the brain.展开更多
基金supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31630039 and 31700666)the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2017YFA0504203 and 2018YFC1004504)the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality(19JC1412500)。
文摘There are more than a thousand trillion specific synaptic connections in the human brain and over a million new specific connections are formed every second during the early years of life. The assembly of these staggeringly complex neuronal circuits requires specific cell-surface molecular tags to endow each neuron with a unique identity code to discriminate self from non-self. The clustered protocadherin(Pcdh) genes, which encode a tremendous diversity of cell-surface assemblies, are candidates for neuronal identity tags. We describe the adaptive evolution,genomic structure, and regulation of expression of the clustered Pcdhs. We specifically focus on the emerging3-D architectural and biophysical mechanisms that generate an enormous number of diverse cell-surface Pcdhs as neural codes in the brain.
