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Ancient retroviruses played a key role in the evolution of vertebrate brains
古代逆转录病毒在脊椎动物大脑的进化中起着关键作用

Myelin covers vertebrate nerve axons. It’s used to enable rapid impulse conduction, while also supporting nerves metabolically. Originating at around the same time as jaws, its importance has long been recognized. However, the mechanism that triggered its appearance is unclear.
髓磷脂覆盖脊椎动物的神经轴突。它用于实现快速脉冲传导,同时也支持神经代谢。它起源于大约与颌骨相同的时期,其重要性早已得到认可。然而,引发其出现的机制尚不清楚。

Miaomiao Ding

Overview 概述


Myelin covers vertebrate nerve axons. It’s used to enable rapid impulse conduction, while also supporting nerves metabolically. Originating at around the same time as jaws, its importance has long been recognized. However, the mechanism that triggered its appearance is unclear.


髓磷脂覆盖脊椎动物的神经轴突。它用于实现快速脉冲传导,同时也支持神经代谢。它起源于大约与颌骨相同的时期,其重要性早已得到认可。然而,引发其出现的机制尚不清楚。


Research Subject 研究主题


The researchers discovered that RetroMyelin has a role in myelin production. They are investigating how noncoding regions play a role. Retrotransposons that compose 40% of our genomes have been previously unexplored in myelin biology. The motivation of the researchers was to know how these molecules are helping evolutionary processes.


研究人员发现RetroMyelin在髓鞘的产生中起作用。他们正在研究非编码区是如何发挥作用的。构成我们基因组40%的逆转录转座子以前在髓鞘生物学中尚未被探索。研究人员的动机是了解这些分子是如何帮助进化过程的。


Rodent Results 啮齿类中的结果


The researchers found in rodents that RetroMyelin RNA transcripts regulate the expression of one key component of myelin. When researchers inhibited RetroMyelin in oligodendrocytes and progenitor cells, the cells could no longer produce myelin basic protein. The group also identified analogous sequences in all other classes of jawed vertebrates, no similar sequence is found in jawless vertebrates, but did find examples in all jawed vertebrates (birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians). This indicates an evolutionary drive to make impulse conduction of axons. Quicker conduction of signal enables quick responses.


研究人员在啮齿类动物身上发现,逆转录髓磷脂RNA转录物调节髓磷脂一个关键成分的表达。当研究人员抑制少突胶质细胞和祖细胞中的逆转录髓磷脂时,这些细胞就不能再产生髓鞘碱性蛋白。该小组还在所有其他类别的有颌脊椎动物中发现了类似序列,在无颌脊椎动物中没有发现类似序列,但在所有有颌脊椎动物(鸟类、鱼类、爬行动物和两栖动物)中都发现了类似的序列。这表明了轴突冲动传导的进化驱动力。更快的信号传导能够实现快速响应。


Research Results 研究成果


The researchers next become curious about whether RetroMyelin was incorporated once for separate retroviral invasions incurred during different branches of evolution. The analysis revealed that RetroMyelin sequences have more similarity within than between species, this suggests that RetroMyelin was acquired multiple times in the process of convergent evolution. The team also showed that RetroMyelin plays a role in fish and amphibians.


接下来,研究人员开始好奇RetroMyelin是否被掺入一次,用于不同进化分支中的单独逆转录病毒入侵。分析表明,RetroMyelin序列在物种内部比在物种之间更相似,这表明RetroMyerin是在趋同进化过程中多次获得的。研究小组还表明RetroMyelin在鱼类和两栖动物中发挥作用。


Implication and Future Developments 研究意义和未来发展


The results of the current research indicate that retroviral infection and genome integration occurred separately across different animal groups. This established the mechanisms by which retroviral infection introduced the beneficial characteristic of myelination in jawed vertebrates. The study highlights the importance of non-coding regions of the genome for physiology and evolution. As noted by researchers, the findings open up a new avenue of research to explore how retroviruses are more generally involved in directing evolution.


目前的研究结果表明,逆转录病毒感染和基因组整合在不同的动物群体中分别发生。这建立了逆转录病毒感染引入有颌脊椎动物髓鞘形成有益特征的机制。这项研究强调了基因组非编码区对生理学和进化的重要性。正如研究人员所指出的,这些发现为探索逆转录病毒如何更普遍地参与指导进化开辟了一条新的研究途径。

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