Exploiting human anatomical variability as a link between genome and cognome

Although talents and disabilities appear to run in families, direct links between genes and cognitive ability are difficult to establish. Investigators are currently searching for intermediate phenotypes with plausible links to both genome and cognome (the cognitive phenotype). Cortical anatomy could provide one such intermediate phenotype. Variation in cortical size, asymmetry and sulcal pattern is influenced by genetic variation in neurotrophic factors and can predict variation in verbal and mathematical talent. Anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals with a rare morphological variant of Sylvian fissure sometimes have superior visualization ability combined with verbal deficits. Documentation of such 'cognitive cortical syndromes' might prove as genetically informative as the identification of dysmorphic syndromes associated with mental retardation. A necessary prerequisite for the establishment of such syndromes is a reliable technique for the identification of cortical patterns. Recent technical advances in software for automatically labeling and measuring cortical sulci now provide the possibility of establishing standard measures for their shape, size and location. Such measures are a prerequisite for genetic studies of cortical patterns that could illuminate the neurodevelopmental pathways by which genes affect cognitive ability.     

Pericarp structure and generic affinities in the Anacardiaceae

Pericarp structure is surveyed in 29 genera. Homologous regions termed exocarp, mesocarp and endocarp are established. While exocarp and mesocarp structure show some uniformity, there are two very distinct types of endocarp, designated the Anacardium- type and the Spondias- type . The distribution of these indicates that the current division of the family into five tribes is artificial. The occurrence of the Spondias-type in Canarium , a member of the sister group Burseraceae, suggests that this type is plesiomorphic in the Anacardiaceae. In addition, the presence of the Anacardium- type in Blepharocarya (Blepharocaryaceae) and Orthopterygium Qulianiaceae) further supports the inclusion of these taxa in the Anacardiaceae.