We have shown its applicability to regularly structured laminar neural circuits like the retina, as well as a less structured whole neuronal organism (C. elegans) and a classic processor.
The goal of this review is to highlight research dedicated to understanding complex decision making in non-neuronal organisms, and to suggest avenues for furthering this work.
We discuss potential similarities between decision making in non-neuronal organisms and other systems, such as insect colonies and the mammalian brain, and we suggest future avenues of research that use appropriate experimental design and that take advantage of emerging imaging technologies.
Given the sequence similarity between human CLSTN2 and C. elegans CASY-1 and their neuronal expression in both organisms, we asked whether the casy-1 gene might function in regulating associative learning in C. elegans.
Further studies of neuronal fate in holometablous organisms will yield greater insight into the process of complete metamorphosis and move us closer to an integrated understanding of organisms, providing links between complex cognitive behaviors and the molecules and developmental processes that give rise to them.
Lis1 RNAi induced abnormal neuronal migration in both organisms [ 1].
These data uncover a previously unknown pathway that will guide future studies of neuronal regeneration in higher organisms.
However, BMP4 clearly enhances neuronal aggregation in both organisms (38, 64, 82) and is probably important for the clustering of ENCDCs into definitive ganglia.
SRF plays an essential role in embryogenesis, but is also involved in multiple processes in developed organisms including neuronal and muscle cell function.
This dramatic shift from permitting cell death to ensuring cellular survival is critical, as these post-mitotic cells must provide neuronal circuitry for an organism's entire lifetime.
In addition, these observations indicate that, at least in the case of the IIS pathway, regulation of neuronal aging and whole organism lifespan can be decoupled from one another.
