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Figures
- Fig. 1.
The organization of avian and mammalian brains. In the avian brain (A,B) the cells of the co-activated networks are derived from different sectors of the pallial neuroepithelium and assemble across these sectors. Different sectors produce different cell populations that combine perpendicularly to the radial trajectories to form functional columns. In mammals (C,D), the diverse elements of the functional columns are produced within the same sector of cortical neuroepithelium, extending across the layers of the cerebral cortex perpendicular to the pial surface. The ‘functional columns’ have been defined by co-activation patterns of neurons during a specialized sensory or motor activity in mammalian and avian brains (Montiel and Molnár, 2013). Both mammalian and avian functional columns contain similar sets of specialized neurons, but the overall logic of their developmental origin is very different. A, anterior; Au, auditory; DV, day vision; L, lateral; M, medial; Mo, motor; NV, night vision; P, posterior; SS, somatosensory; V, ventral. Adapted from Monteil and Molnár (2013).
- Fig. 2.
Potential genomic changes underlying neocortex evolution. (i-v) Select events in neocortex evolution: (i) possible conserved neurogenetic program in amniote common ancestor (Suzuki et al., 2012); (ii) six-layered neocortex evolves in common ancestor of mammals; (iii) emergence of frontal granular cortex in primates; (iv) threefold expansion of human brain prior to divergence with Neanderthal; (v) possible additional events in modern human lineage supporting rapid technological innovation. (A-E) Genomic changes that may be associated with changes in brain structure: (A) conserved regulatory elements (e.g. Shim et al., 2012); (B) regulatory elements with functional changes in many lineages; (C) human-specific deletion of conserved regulatory elements (e.g. McLean et al., 2011); (D) human-specific coding substitutions (e.g. in FOXP2); (E) human-specific gene duplication (e.g. Charrier et al., 2012).
Article navigation
- Top
- Article
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Graceful scaling, functional channeling and areas in the mammalian cortex
- Common principles between avian, reptilian and mammalian circuits?
- Evidence for recent changes in the human lineage
- Developmental processes that may contribute to brain expansion
- Human-specific anatomy and developmental processes
- Genomic screens for key human-specific mutations
- Summary
- Acknowledgments
- Footnotes
- References
- Figures & tables
- Info & metrics
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