The sea urchin genome as a window on function

The emphasis on the sequencing of genomes seems to make this task an end in itself. However, genome sequences and the genes that are predicted from them are really an opportunity to examine the biological function of the organism constructed by that genome. This point is illustrated here by examples in which the newly annotated gene complement reveals surprises about the way Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, the purple sea urchin, goes about its business. The three topics considered here are the nature of the innate immune system; the unexpected complexity of sensory function implied by genes encoding sensory proteins; and the remarkable intricacy of the regulatory gene complement in embryogenesis.     

Cryptic species as a window on diversity and conservation

The taxonomic challenge posed by cryptic species (two or more distinct species classified as a single species) has been recognized for nearly 300 years, but the advent of relatively inexpensive and rapid DNA sequencing has given biologists a new tool for detecting and differentiating morphologically similar species. Here, we synthesize the literature on cryptic and sibling species and discuss trends in their discovery. However, a lack of systematic studies leaves many questions open, such as whether cryptic species are more common in particular habitats, latitudes or taxonomic groups. The discovery of cryptic species is likely to be non-random with regard to taxon and biome and, hence, could have profound implications for evolutionary theory, biogeography and conservation planning.     

Neural mechanisms in Williams syndrome: a unique window to genetic influences on cognition and behaviour

Williams syndrome, a rare disorder caused by hemizygous microdeletion of about 28 genes on chromosome 7q11.23, has long intrigued neuroscientists with its unique combination of striking behavioural abnormalities, such as hypersociability, and characteristic neurocognitive profile. Williams syndrome, therefore, raises fundamental questions about the neural mechanisms of social behaviour, the modularity of mind and brain development, and provides a privileged setting to understand genetic influences on complex brain functions in a 'bottom-up' way. We review recent advances in uncovering the functional and structural neural substrates of Williams syndrome that provide an emerging understanding of how these are related to dissociable genetic contributions characterized both in special participant populations and animal models.     

Creative or created: using anecdotes to investigate animal cognition

In non-human animals, creative behaviour occurs spontaneously only at low frequencies, so is typically missed by standardised observational methods. Experimental approaches have tended to rely overly on paradigms from child development or adult human cognition, which may be inappropriate for species that inhabit very different perceptual worlds and possess quite different motor capacities than humans. The analysis of anecdotes offers a solution to this impasse, provided certain conditions are met. To be reliable, anecdotes must be recorded immediately after observation, and only the records of scientists experienced with the species and the individuals concerned should be used. Even then, interpretation of a single record is always ambiguous, and analysis is feasible only when collation of multiple records shows that a behaviour pattern occurs repeatedly under similar circumstances. This approach has been used successfully to study a number of creative capacities of animals: the distribution, nature and neural correlates of deception across the primate order; the occurrence of teaching in animals; and the neural correlates of several aptitudes--in birds, foraging innovation, and in primates, innovation, social learning and tool-use. Drawing on these approaches, we describe the use of this method to investigate a new problem, the cognition of the African elephant, a species whose sheer size and evolutionary distance from humans renders the conventional methods of comparative psychology of little use. The aim is both to chart the creative cognitive capacities of this species, and to devise appropriate experimental methods to confirm and extend previous findings.     

Creative cognition: the diverse operations and the prospect of applying a cognitive neuroscience perspective

Creativity is defined quite simply as "the ability to create" in most lexicons, but, in reality, this is a complex and heterogeneous construct about which there is much to be discovered. The cognitive approach to investigating creativity recognizes and seeks to understand this complexity by investigating the component processes involved in creative thinking. The cognitive neuroscience approach, which has only limitedly been applied in the study of creativity, should ideally build on these ideas in uncovering the neural substrates of these processes. Following an introduction into the early experimental ideas and the cognitive approach to creativity, we discuss the theoretical background and behavioral methods for testing various processes of creative cognition, including conceptual expansion, the constraining influence of examples, creative imagery and insight. The complex relations between the underlying component processes of originality and relevance across these tasks are presented thereafter. We then outline how some of these conceptual distinctions can be evaluated by neuroscientific evidence and elaborate on the neuropsychological approach in the study of creativity. Given the current state of affairs, our recommendation is that despite methodological difficulties that are associated with investigating creativity, adopting the cognitive neuroscience perspective is a highly promising framework for validating and expanding on the critical issues that have been raised in this paper.     

Evolution as a cognition process: Towards an evolutionary epistemology

Recently, biologist and philosophers have been much attracted by an evolutionary view of knowledge, so-called evolutionary epistemology. Developing this insight, the present paper argues that our cognitive abilities are the outcome of organic evolution, and that, conversely, evolution itself may be described as a cognition process. Furthermore, it is argued that the key to an adequate evolutionary epistemology lies in a system-theoretical approach to evolution which grows from, but goes beyond, Darwin's theory of natural selection.     

Termites as models of swarm cognition

Eusociality has evolved independently at least twice among the insects: among the Hymenoptera (ants and bees), and earlier among the Isoptera (termites). Studies of swarm intelligence, and by inference, swarm cognition, have focused largely on the bees and ants, while the termites have been relatively neglected. Yet, termites are among the world’s premier animal architects, and this betokens a sophisticated swarm intelligence capability. In this article, I review new findings on the workings of the mound of Macrotermes which clarify how these remarkable structures work, and how they come to be built. Swarm cognition in these termites is in the form of “extended” cognition, whereby the swarm’s cognitive abilities arise both from interaction amongst the individual agents within a swarm, and from the interaction of the swarm with the environment, mediated by the mound’s dynamic architecture. The latter provides large scale “cognitive maps” which enable termite swarms to assess the functional state of their structure and to guide repair efforts where necessary. The crucial role of the built environment in termite swarm cognition also points to certain “swarm cognitive disorders”, where swarms can be pushed into anomalous activities by manipulating crucial structural and functional attributes of the termite system of “extended cognition.”     

Thinking about evolution: combinatorial play as a strategy for exercising scientific creativity

An enduring focus in education on how scientists formulate experiments and ‘do science’ in the laboratory has excluded a vital element of scientific practice: the creative and imaginative thinking that generates models and testable hypotheses. In this case study, final‐year biomedical sciences university students were invited to create and justify a taxonomy of selected vertebrates on the basis of their brain organisation, as part of an exercise exploring the evolution of embryonic development. While raising a number of issues surrounding the context and methods of comparative zoology, this exercise also invoked a set of cognitive processes that can neither be adequately characterised as role‐play nor critical thinking. By contrast, the act of formulating and justifying taxonomy identifies a style of creative thought that is a prerequisite for hypothesis formation. A defining characteristic of this exercise is that it engages activities that are independent of disciplinary perspective. This flexibility in approach may provide a route through to defining what qualifies as a creative teaching exercise in science.     

Dialysate dihydroxyphenylglycol as a window for in situ axoplasmic norepinephrine disposition

To examine basal axoplasmic norepinephrine (NE) kinetics at the in situ cardiac sympathetic nerve ending, we applied a dialysis technique to the heart of anesthetized cats and performed the dialysate sampling with local administration of a pharmacological tool through a dialysis probe. The dialysis probe was implanted in the left ventricular wall, and dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG, an index of axoplasmic NE) levels were measured by liquid chromatogram-electrochemical detection. Control dialysate DHPG levels were 161+/-19 pg/ml. Pargyline (monoamine oxidase inhibitor, 1 mM) decreased the dialysate DHPG levels to 38+/-10 pg/ml. Further alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine, omega-conotoxin GVIA, desipramine (NE synthesis, release and uptake blockers) decreased the dialysate DHPG levels to 64+/-19, 106+/-15, 110+/-22 pg/ml, respectively. In contrast, reserpine (vesicle NE transport inhibitor, 10 microM) increased the dialysate DHPG levels to 690+/-42 pg/ml. Thus, NE synthesis, metabolism and recycling (release, uptake and vesicle transport) affected basal intraneuronal NE disposition at the nerve endings. Measurement of DHPG levels through a dialysis probe provides information about basal intraneuronal NE disposition at the cardiac sympathetic nerve endings. Yohimbine (alpha(2)-adrenoreceptor blocker, 10 microM) and U-521 (catechol-O-methyltransferase blocker, 100 microM) did not alter the dialysate DHPG levels. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the reserpine induced DHPG increment between the presence and absence of desipramine (10 microM) or alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine (100 mg/kg i.p.). These results may be explained by the presence of two axoplasmic pools of NE, filled by NE taken up and synthesized, and by NE overflow from vesicle. The latter pool of NE may be closed to the monoamine oxidase system in the axoplasma.     

4-Aminopiperidine derivatives as a new class of potent cognition enhancing drugs

Extrusion of one of the nitrogens of the piperazine ring of potent nootropic drugs previously described gave 4-aminopiperidine analogues that maintained high cognition enhancing activity in the mouse passive avoidance test. One of the new compounds (9, active at 0.01 mg/kg ip) may represent a new lead for the development of cognition enhancers useful to treat the cognitive deficit produced by neurodegenerative pathologies like Alzheimer's disease.     

Social cognition by food-caching corvids. The western scrub-jay as a natural psychologist

Food-caching corvids hide food, but such caches are susceptible to pilfering by other individuals. Consequently, the birds use several counter strategies to protect their caches from theft, e.g. hiding most of them out of sight. When observed by potential pilferers at the time of caching, experienced jays that have been thieves themselves, take further protective action. Once the potential pilferers have left, they move caches those birds have seen, re-hiding them in new places. Naive birds that had no thieving experience do not do so. By focusing on the counter strategies of the cacher when previously observed by a potential pilferer, these results raise the intriguing possibility that re-caching is based on a form of mental attribution, namely the simulation of another bird's viewpoint. Furthermore, the jays also keep track of the observer which was watching when they cached and take protective action accordingly, thus suggesting that they may also be aware of others' knowledge states.     

Invertebrates as animal models for Staphylococcus aureus pathogenesis: a window into host-pathogen interaction

Recently, the use of invertebrate models of infection has given exciting insights into host-pathogen interaction for a number of bacteria. In particular, this has revealed important factors of the host response with remarkable parallels in higher organisms. Here, we review the advances attained in the elucidation of virulence determinants of a major human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, in relation to the invertebrate models thus far applied, the silkworm (Bombyx mori), the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and the roundworm (Caenorhabditis elegans). Also, the major pathways of host defence are covered in light of the response to S. aureus and the similarities and divergences in innate immunity of vertebrates and invertebrates. Consequently, we comparatively consider pathogen recognition receptors, signal transduction pathways (including Toll, Imd and others), and the humoral and cellular antimicrobial effectors. The technically convenient and ethically acceptable invertebrates appear as a valuable first tool to discriminate molecules participating from both sides of the host-S. aureus interaction as well as a high throughput method for antimicrobial screening.     

Discovering oxysterols in plasma: a window on the metabolome

While the proteome defines the expressed gene products, the metabolome results from reactions controlled by such gene products. Plasma represents an accessible "window" to the metabolome both in regard of availability and content. The wide range of the plasma metabolome, in terms of molecular diversity and abundance, makes its comprehensive analysis challenging. Here we demonstrate an analytical method designed to target one region of the metabolome, that is, oxysterols. Since the discovery of their biological activity as ligands to nuclear receptors there has been a reawakening of interest in oxysterols and their analysis. In addition, the oxysterols, 24S- and 27-hydroxycholesterol, are currently under investigation as potential biomarkers associated with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis; widespread analysis of these lipids in clinical studies will require the development of robust, sensitive and rapid analytical techniques. In this communication we present results of an investigation of the oxysterols content of human plasma using a newly developed high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method incorporating charge-tagging and high-resolution MS. The method has allowed the identification in plasma of monohydroxylated cholesterol molecules, 7alpha-, 24S-, and 27-hydroxycholesterol; the cholestenetriol 7alpha,27-dihydroxycholesterol; and 3beta-hydroxycholest-5-en-27-oic acid and its metabolite 3beta,7alpha-dihydroxycholest-5-en-27-oic acid. The methodology described is also applicable for the analysis of other sterols in plasma, that is, cholesterol, 7-dehydrocholesterol, and desmosterol, as well as cholesterol 5,6- seco-sterols and steroid hormones. Although involving derivatization, sample preparation is straightforward and chromatographic analysis rapid (17 min), while the MS method offers high sensitivity (ng/mL of sterol in plasma, or pg on-column) and specificity. The methodology is suitable for targeted metabolomic analysis of sterols, oxysterols, and steroid hormones opening a "window" to view this region of the metabolome.