News Finding: "I think one of the advantages of studying neural circuits in skates is that they can accomplish this behavior using a relatively simple set of connections between neurons and muscle," Dasen says.
Paper Finding: Interestingly, Leucoraja lacks the HoxC gene cluster in its entirety .
News Context: Dasen stresses that while the neural complexity of higher organisms hinders our studies of animals such as mice, the little skate's archaic simplicity makes it a perfect starting point. "I think one of the advantages of studying neural circuits in skates is that they can accomplish this behavior using a relatively simple set of connections between neurons and muscle," Dasen says. "We hope we can exploit this simplicity to understand the basic architecture of the circuits controlling walking."
Paper Context: At thoracic levels, Hoxc9 determines forelimb and hindlimb LMC position by suppressing Foxp1 autoregulation and extinguishing forelimb-associated Hox4-Hox8 genes. Interestingly, Leucoraja lacks the HoxC gene cluster in its entirety . The absence of the Hoxc9 gene may have contributed to the caudally extended domain of pectoral LMC neurons in Leucoraja and the presence of Foxp1 + MNs as a single continuous column spanning both pectoral and pelvic levels.