Got an idea to describe regulatory evolution and structural evolution

Everytime getting aware of something. I would like to discuss it with someone to make sure that I got it right. Here in McKinnon lab, it's definitely going to be Shian-ren. Today I discussed with her about the role of regulatory evolution on the small scale and structural evolution on the larger scale amongst the living beings. I just got the reminder to myself that actually this small scale and large scale is actually not only limited to the vertical dimension of species, but it's also on the horizontal dimension of traits. For example, morphological traits.

The existance of a trait would be structural evolution, or the big morphological changes. But the more complex, detailed evolution of a trait would be regulatory. How to say, oh, like the transportation tools, said me. Having Shian-ren being there clarifying something, all in a sudden this great example come into my brain. I can't wait to telling her about this, because it's so great analogy for me.

Yes, look, even though a car can have a speed range from 0 to 100 MPH, it can never arrive hundreds of MPH like the plane. Without structural evolution into plane, this high speed could never happen. However, within the category of car, there can be lot of changes across different brands or even inside a brand; these are regulatory evolution.

Wow, good, I can give this example on my proposal defense.

Neuronal activity dephosphorylate and translocate Kv2.1 ion channel:

04 Nature: "Regulation of ion channel localization and phosphorylation by neuronal" activityhttp://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v7/n7/full/nn1260.html
Voltage-dependent Kv2.1 K⁺ channels, which mediate delayed rectifier Kv currents (I_K), are expressed in large clusters on the somata and dendrites of principal pyramidal neurons, where they regulate neuronal excitability.

Very good review: "Localization of Voltage-Gated Ion Channels IN Mammalian Brain" in Annual review of physiology
http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.physiol.66.032102.113328?cookieSet=1

The exam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_in_the_human_brain

Too many thing to memorize... :(

The Motor Lab

This is a very interesting lab. http://motorlab.neurobio.pitt.edu/index.php

Especially the multimedia of robot arms controlled by cortical neuron activity. But my main argu is that because of the plasticity of the brain, you don't really need to train the person prior to implement the robot arm, nor to put the source electrode at any specific area of the brain.

It's really great to hear the Evinger have invited Dr. Schwartz to come. I am so looking forward to that. I think I have a lot to discuss with him.

Very interesting multimedia to watch here: http://motorlab.neurobio.pitt.edu/multimedia.php

The best knowledge collection of visual system

http://webvision.med.utah.edu/

Should be interesting to know

Title: Regulation of the timing of MNTB neurons by short-term and long-term modulation of potassium channels

I know some families of potassium channel are important in auditory function. Especially the ones in the hair cells. But this is something I didn't know.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.hsclib.sunysb.edu/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T73-4FXV7BJ-3&_user=334567&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000017318&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=334567&md5=bb2dd706f5fc02dee27cde9d9097e1ed

Abstract

The firing patterns of neurons in central auditory pathways encode specific features of sound stimuli, such as frequency, intensity and localization in space. The generation of the appropriate pattern depends, to a major extent, on the properties of the voltage-dependent potassium channels in these neurons. The mammalian auditory pathways that compute the direction of a sound source are located in the brainstem and include the connection from bushy cells in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) to the principal neurons of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB). To preserve the fidelity of timing of action potentials that is required for sound localization, these neurons express several types of potassium channels, including the Kv3 and Kv1 families of voltage-dependent channels and the Slick and Slack sodium-dependent channels. These channels determine the pattern of action potentials and the amount of neurotransmitter released during repeated stimulation. The amplitude of currents carried by one of these channels, the Kv3.1b channel, is regulated in the short term by protein phosphorylation, and in the long term, by changes in gene expression, such that the intrinsic excitability of the neurons is constantly being regulated by the ambient auditory environment.

Link to my first crappy paper

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/dsj/6/0/6_S743/_article