“Too Soon on Earth”: A Biophilosophical Model of Schizophrenia. Some Implications for Humanoid Robots

This paper presents a new explanatory model for schizophrenia based upon philosophical, molecular and neurobiological hypotheses as well as on years of experience in observing and treating these patients. To start with, a novel interpretation of the Hegelian concept of mediation is presented. Mediation is defined as the rejection of non-realizable programs, such as thoughts and ideas, at a certain point in time in the evolution of a living system. Whenever a system treats non-realizable programs as if they were realizable, its ability to “test the reality” is lost, and consequently a loss of ego-boundaries may occur. On the molecular level, I will try to show how “non-splicing” of introns during the mRNA splicing process is equivalent to a loss of the rejection function corresponding to mediation. At the cellular level in the brain, mediation can be explained in terms of glial-neuronal interactions. Glia exert a spatio-temporal boundary setting function determining the grouping of neurons into functional units. Mutations in genes that result in non-splicing of introns can produce truncated (“chimeric”) neurotransmitter receptors. I propose that such dysfunctional receptors are generated in glial cells and that they cannot interact properly with their cognate neurotransmitters. The glia will then lose their inhibitory-rejecting function with respect to the information processing within neuronal networks. This loss of glial boundary setting could be an explanation for the loss of ego or body boundaries in schizophrenia. Pertinent examples of case studies are given attempting to deduce the main symptoms of schizophrenia from the proposed hypothesis. Some implications for the design of delusional robots are also discussed. Finally, the evolutionary potency of non-coding introns is philosophically interpreted that schizophrenics may be “too soon on earth”.

双翅目昆虫(黑腹果蝇和冈比亚按蚊)内含子丢失的比较分析

内含子插入和丢失的进化动力及机制尚存在许多疑问。通过对真核生物的105个同源基因的蛋白质高度保守区域内含子-外显子结构的研究,对人Homosapiens、小鼠Musmusculus、大鼠Rattusnorvegicus、黑腹果蝇Drosophilamelanogaster、冈比亚按蚊Anophelesgambiae和秀丽隐杆线虫Caenorhabditiselegans的3574个内含子、1001个的内含子保守位点进行分析,推断出不同系统中内含子的变化途径。发现在进化早期,脊椎动物、双翅目昆虫和线虫的共同祖先中含有大量内含子,在进化过程中,双翅目昆虫和线虫发生了大量的内含子丢失,甚至在双翅目昆虫中内含子丢失较线虫更严重。线虫获得的内含子略多于丢失的内含子,而在双翅目昆虫中则显示出内含子的丢失明显多于内含子的获得。该结果合理地解释了内含子在脊椎动物、线虫及昆虫中数量的分布呈下降趋势。

双翅目昆虫与脊椎动物内含子丢失和获得的比较分析

内含子插入和丢失的进化动力及机制尚存有许多疑问。我们拟通过对真核生物的604个同源基因的蛋白高度保守区域内含子-外显子的结构研究,对人Homosapiens、大鼠Rattus norvegicus、小鼠Mus musculus、黑腹果蝇Drosophila melanogaster、冈比亚按蚊Anopheles gambiae和拟南芥Arabidopsis thaliana中的12585个内含子、3074个保守内含子进行分析,推断出不同系统中内含子进化趋势。结果显示在进化中双翅目昆虫丢失了约850多个内含子,脊椎动物获得了1600多个内含子,而双翅目昆虫获得的内含子及脊椎动物丢失的内含子则较少。在内含子分布上,除酵母有明显5′末端倾向性外,双翅目昆虫也显示出内含子分布倾向于基因的5′端,而在脊椎动物及拟南芥中则没有这种分布的倾向性。这可能是由于双翅目昆虫丢失的内含子大多位于基因的3′端造成的。通过对现在脊椎动物内含子分布及获得的内含子的插入相的研究,发现内含子的获得可能在一定程度上导致了现存基因的内含子中插入相0的内含子最多这一倾向。

千屈菜科中rpl2基因内含子缺失现象探析

本研究共收集了25种样本,其中紫薇属样本17种,千屈菜科其它属代表种7种,并利用近缘物种柳叶菜科Onagraceae月见草属Oenothera植物Oenothera albicaulis样本作为对照,通过试剂盒法提取DNA,PCR扩增样本rpl2目标区域基因片段,对紫薇属Lagerstroemia Linn乃至千屈菜科Lythraceae的rpl2基因内含子缺失情况进行了初步研究,探讨rpl2基因内含子的缺失是否发生在属的水平以及科的水平。实验结果表明,各实验样本的rpl2目标区域的扩增长度短于非千屈菜科植物,同时通过对扩增片段进行Sanger测序的结果比对,确认rpl2基因内含子缺失现象发生在紫薇属及千屈菜科内。本研究结果对于探讨千屈菜科内植物内含子的缺失机理、紫薇属及千屈菜科的后续基因组的其他研究提供了前期基础。

Multiple intron gain and loss events occurred during the evolution of Cenp-A gene

Centromere protein A(CENP-A) is a histone H3 like protein,and it plays a very important role in chromosomal segregation during mitosis and meiosis.The analyses on the exon-intron organization of the Cenp-A gene in representative genomes revealed that multiple intron gain and loss events have occurred during the evolution of Cenp-A gene in opisthokonta(common ancestor of fungi and animals).Moreover,our results revealed that at least two positions were conserved in the intron gain and loss events during the evolution of the Cenp-A gene.