From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sat May 31 2003 - 04:46:09 MDT
On Sat, 31 May 2003, Harvey Newstrom, commenting on Brett's
comments I believe derived from a Time Magazine article wrote:
> That main quote that "learning itself consists of nothing more than
> switching genes on and off...." To claim that memorized information
> switches one's genes off and on is misleading.
It depends how they mean it. I think Anders would agree that
"memorized information" is contained in neuron patterns that
primarily involve synaptic structures composed primarily of
proteins and lipids. But to *grow* those structures
probably requires turning genes on or off. Perhaps one
can get away in short term learning with protein-protein
interactions that alter the pattern of neuron transmission
(based on electrical firing patterns) but for long term
changes I think you are going to have to change the
patterns of neural interconnects and that is going to
require changes in gene expression.
So I don't think the statement is misleading. It may be
poorly worded. But unless the author understands both
molecular biology and neurophysiology I doubt it is easy
to get this really well worded.
This gets back to my "regulome" comments. Understanding how
neurons really work will probably require understanding the
gene regulation in neurons, and perhaps supporting cells, on
multiple time frames, e.g. minutes, hours, days, years.
My impression is also that different parts of the brain may
be handling things differently (at least in terms of hormone
and neurotransmitter significance) so we may need to wrestle
with time scales and gene expression changes in multiple
brain regions.
But with increasing availability of gene expression chips
(Affymetrix, etc.) this shouldn't be too difficult.
Robert
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