http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010510071941.htm
Source: Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/)
Date: Posted 5/10/2001
How Did We Get So Smart? Study Sheds Light On Evolution Of The Brain
Princeton and Bell Labs scientists have devised a simple but powerful method
for analyzing brain anatomy, providing the first reliable measure of how
brains of humans and other mammals are related to one another across
evolution.
In a paper in the May 10 issue of Nature, the researchers show how comparing
the relative sizes of 11 brain parts reveals a unique brain structure for
each species. They calculated the percentage of total brain volume
contributed by each part and created the term "cerebrotype" to describe the
resulting 11-number characterization, just as the word "genotype" describes
the unique DNA sequence for each species.
The analysis shows that mammals fall into a spectrum of cerebrotypes, with
humans at one end and insect-eaters, such as hedgehogs, at the other.
"Intuitively, we know there is something about our brains that is extreme,"
said Sam Wang, an assistant professor of molecular biology and the senior
author of the paper. "What we have here is a direct measure of one way in
which our brains are extreme."
The findings support the "social intelligence" theory of primate evolution,
which holds that prehuman ancestors were at an advantage for survival if they
excelled at complex social dynamics such as working in groups and predicting
the behavior of others.
Wang and colleagues based their work on a 20-year-old database assembled by
German researchers who catalogued information about the brains of 300
animals. Wang's co-authors on the paper are Princeton undergraduate Damon
Clark and Partha Mitra, a scientist at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs.
The researchers were initially interested in a comparative study of brains as
a means of identifying general principles of brain organization. "We were
looking for underlying engineering or design principles that might account
for how evolution led to one brain architecture and not another," said Mitra.
The research may help scientists understand the selective forces that drove
the evolution of humans and other animals. Brain areas that showed the most
growth over the course of evolution are likely to perform functions that
conferred a selective advantage, said Wang.
The research confirmed, for example, previous studies showing that one brain
area, the neocortex, grew rapidly over the course of evolution, expanding
from 16 percent of the brain in insect-eaters to 80 percent in humans. The
neocortex is responsible for social interactions, reasoning and other complex
cognitive tasks, suggesting that the outcome of social interactions has been
a powerful evolutionary force. Interestingly, even when Wang and colleagues
eliminated the neocortex from their analysis, humans still had a unique brain
structure, appearing on the extreme end of the chart.
In general, the researchers found that animals with the most similar
cerebrotypes were also the most closely related by evolution. Within groups
of related species, total brain size varied by as much as 100-fold, but the
relative sizes of their brain parts -- their cerebrotypes -- remained
relatively constant. Shifts in cerebrotype occurred with the emergence of new
groups, such as the evolution of older monkeys into the great apes into
hominids.
Another implication of the research is that the genetic mechanisms that
control the development of the brain's structure may be much simpler than
previously thought. Wang speculates that many differences between the brains
of humans and those of the simplest mammals may result from evolutionary
pressures on just a few genes.
The reason is that, as evolution progressed, the relative sizes of the 11
brain areas shifted in only limited ways. If there were hundreds of genes
independently controlling the sizes of the brain areas, then there would be a
great diversity of cerebrotypes among mammals -- much more than what the
researchers found. Instead, they were able to reduce the many variations
between the 11 brain areas to a relatively simple, two-dimensional diagram.
Cerebrotype measurements also could lead to a better understanding of how the
brain works by making it easier to correlate the cognitive abilities of
various animals with their brain structures. For example, the researchers
found that one brain region, the cerebellum, had the same approximate
relative size in most mammals. However, whales, dolphins, and certain bats
appeared to have larger cerebellums. They later learned that these species
navigate by a kind of SONAR -- bouncing sound waves off their surroundings.
The measurements suggest that the cerebellum plays a unique role in the
complex calculations involved in that function.
Previous brain-comparison studies had focused on either the whole brain or
did not compare brain regions directly with each other. Some, for example,
measured the relationship of overall brain size to body size and compared
that measure among species of different body weights. That analysis yielded
inconclusive results, suggesting that human brains were most closely related
to those of spider monkeys, which are not considered to be close evolutionary
relatives. However, the researchers' new results follow widely accepted
evolutionary charts: mammals that are closely related by evolution also
proved to have similar cerebrotypes.
"It provides a little insight into who we are and how we got here," said
Wang.
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-- Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Princeton University for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit Princeton University as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010510071941.htm
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