PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Single gene controls fish brain size and intelligence

2015-06-24
(Press-News.org) A single gene called Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) drives brain size and intelligence in fish according to a new study by researchers at UCL, Stockholm University and University of Helsinki. Fish with larger brains and higher intelligence had higher expression of Ang-1, and when expression levels of Ang-1 were experimentally reduced, brains shrunk. These trends were seen in two unrelated species of fish - guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and zebra fish (Danio rerio) - indicating expression of Ang-1 is important for brain growth and development in fish generally. The study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, identified the underlying genetics of natural variation in brain size and cognitive abilities in fish. Ang-1 could play an important role in the brain development of other vertebrates, including humans, but future research is required to establish this say the scientists involved. Populations of guppies selected for either large or small brains, with associated differences in intelligence, were used for the first step in the study which was a complete genome analysis of differently expressed genes. There was a 10% difference in brain size between the large and small-brain guppies and from the genetic analysis, Ang-1 was identified as the only gene expressed at different levels in each replicate population. Further experiments in zebra fish by collaborator Professor Pertti Panula at Helsinki University confirmed that Ang-1 is a driver for brain size. Professor Judith Mank, UCL Biosciences, said: "We were surprised to see that only a single gene was up-regulated in the large-brained guppies. Given the complexity of the brain, we expected that the genetics would be very intricate, but this suggests that changes in brain size are underpinned by relatively simple genetic mechanisms."

The protein encoded by Ang-1 is known to play an important role in growing new blood vessels and forming new brain cells in mice, which may indicate an important role of Ang-1 in brain growth of other animals, even in humans, say the scientists behind the study. Dr Niclas Kolm, Stockholm University, said: "Other genes may be involved in brain growth in young, developing fish but no other genes were found to vary in their expression in adult fish other than Ang-1. Future studies will aim to investigate the role of Ang-1 and possibly other genes in the formation of differently sized brains in developing embryos". Professor Mank added: "We don't yet know if Ang-1 is important in human brain development - it isn't on the list of genes typically studied in relation to human brain size - but as it plays a role in forming new blood vessels in humans, there may be a connection as large brains need a bigger blood supply, particularly during growth and for many brain functions. This presents us with an exciting opportunity to investigate the role of Ang-1 across different vertebrates." The team now plans to study the age-specific genetic architecture of both brain structure and function based on new artificial selection experiments in the guppy.

INFORMATION:

The work was kindly funded by the European Research Council, the Swedish Research Council, the Austrian Science Fund, Academy of Finland and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Road traffic noise linked to deaths and increased strokes

2015-06-24
Living in an area with noisy road traffic may reduce life expectancy, according to new research published in the European Heart Journal. The findings suggest a link between long-term exposure to road traffic noise and deaths, as well as a greater risk of stroke, particularly in the elderly. The research was led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in partnership with Imperial College London and King's College London. Researchers analysed data for 8.6 million people living in London between 2003 and 2010. They looked at levels of road traffic noise during ...

3-5 cups of coffee per day may reduce CVD mortality risk by up to 21 percent

2015-06-24
Drinking 3-5 cups of coffee per day could cut an individual's cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk by up to 21%, according to research highlighted in a EuroPRevent session report published by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC), a not-for-profit organisation devoted to the study and disclosure of science related to coffee and health1. The finding is significant given that coronary heart disease and stroke remain the primary cause of death across Europe, responsible for 51% of all deaths in women and 42% of all deaths in men.2 Over four million ...

Physicists fine-tune control of agile exotic materials

2015-06-23
Physicists have found a way to control the length and strength of waves of atomic motion that have promising potential uses such as fine-scale imaging and the transmission of information within tight spaces. The researchers measured waves called polaritons that can emerge when light interacts with matter. By combining two materials, they produced hybrid polaritons that propagate throughout many layers of a crystalline material and can be controlled with a simple electrical gate. The team, led by Dimitri Basov and Michael Fogler, professors of physics at the University ...

Costs of War Project releases new reports on Afghanistan, Pakistan

2015-06-23
Afghan security forces, like their fellow citizens more generally, do not view the US-led war in Afghanistan as "their war." This is a primary policy-relevant conclusion reached in one of two new reports issued today by the Costs of War Project at Brown's University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. "Not Their War to Fight: The Afghan Police, Families of their Dead and the American War," by Harvard University Visiting Assistant Professor Anila Daulatzai, draws on four years of anthropologic fieldwork in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan, and ...

Quiet that ringing in the brain

2015-06-23
A new drug may treat epilepsy and prevent tinnitus by selectively affecting potassium channels in the brain, UConn neurophysiologist Anastasios Tzingounis and colleagues report in the 10 June Journal of Neuroscience. Epilepsy and tinnitus are both caused by overly excitable nerve cells. Healthy nerves have a built-in system that slams on the brakes when they get too excited. But in some people this braking system doesn't work, and the nerves run amok, signaling so much that the brain gets overloaded and has a seizure (epilepsy) or hears phantom ringing (tinnitus). About ...

Study identifies multiple genetic changes linked to increased pancreatic cancer risk

2015-06-23
In a genome-wide association study believed to be the largest of its kind, Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered four regions in the human genome where changes may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. The researchers say newly identified genetic variants are located at several positions on human chromosomes, including position 17q25.1, which may increase cancer risk by 38 percent for each copy that is present in the genome; position 7p13, which may increase the risk by 12 percent; and position 3q29, which may increase the risk by 16 percent. Position 2p13.3, another ...

Stem cell injections improve diabetic neuropathy in animal models

2015-06-23
Putnam Valley, NY. (June 23, 2015) - Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a condition in which perpetually high blood sugar causes nerve damage, resulting in a myriad of symptoms such as numbness, reduced ability to detect painful stimuli, muscle weakness, pain, and muscle spasms. DN affects up to 60 percent of patients with diabetes, is often the cause of foot ulcers, and can ultimately result in amputations. There is no curative therapy for DN, but a recent study carried out by a team of researchers in the U.S. and Korea has found that laboratory animals modeled with DN can experience ...

Nanoparticle 'wrapper' delivers chemical that stops fatty buildup in rodent arteries

2015-06-23
In what may be a major leap forward in the quest for new treatments of the most common form of cardiovascular disease, scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have found a way to halt and reverse the progression of atherosclerosis in rodents by loading microscopic nanoparticles with a chemical that restores the animals' ability to properly handle cholesterol. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that clogs, stiffens and narrows the blood vessels, greatly diminishing their ability to deliver blood to the heart muscle and the brain. The condition, known as atherosclerotic ...

Researchers develop new breath test to diagnose esophageal and gastric cancer

2015-06-23
The test has produced encouraging results in a clinical study, and will now be tested in a larger trial involving three hospitals in London. Researchers analysed breath samples of 210 patients using the test. They found that the test can discriminate between malignant and benign oesophageal cancer in patients for the first time. The test is 90 per cent accurate and provides results in minutes, which can take up to four to six hours to process using other methods. The test can also be applied to detect gastric (stomach) cancer tumours. According to the researchers, ...

New University of Miami study predicts variation in illness severity in a population

2015-06-23
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (June 23, 2015) - Many of us are familiar with bell-shaped curves that describe the distributions of school grades and total annual rainfall, among many other quantities. This ubiquitous distribution results when many points for individual non-correlated quantities are added to produce an outcome. Interestingly, a very differently-shaped, highly skewed pattern, often called a power law distribution, is also ubiquitous. This skewed distribution is often considered a signature of complex systems, but its origin has never been adequately explained. A ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity

Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change

Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses

Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal

Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer

Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines

Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease

Four-day school week may not be best for students, review finds

Using music to explore the dynamics of emotions

How the brain supports social processing as people age

Túngara frog tadpoles that grew up in the city developed faster but ended up being smaller

Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

UCLA researchers uncover key mechanism of brain repair in vascular dementia, revealing promising therapeutic target

Why Human empathy still matters in the age of AI

COVID-19 and cognitive change in a community-based cohort

[Press-News.org] Single gene controls fish brain size and intelligence