The neuron family tree remodelled

摘要

The neocortex, the mammalian brain's most recent evolutionary acquisition, controls the aspects of behaviour that make us human, from the fine-scale finger movements of a virtuoso pianist to the complex syntactic processing required for language. Its highly regular structure contains a complex matrix of excitatory and inhibitory neurons organized into distinct layers and columns. Neurons in any one cortical layer share general patterns of connectivity, whereas neurons in the same column are typically interconnected across layers and function as the basic unit of cortical operations~1. Over the past 100 years, analysis of the developing brain has provided fundamental insights into the functional organization of the neocortex2. However, Franco etaV, writing in Science, provide evidence that puts a radically new perspective on the link between brain development and neuronal function.