I joined the laboratory of Professor Francois Gros in 1987 and worked there as a postdoc with Robert Whalen until 1992. I recount the research we carried out and mention that of the other scientists also working on skeletal muscle on the 6th floor of the Molecular Biology Department of the Institut Pasteur at that time. I then present my subsequent research when I returned to Japan. I pay tribute to the influence of Professor Gros and to his support in establishing Japanese/French meetings on muscle biology and muscular dystrophy. I also invoke personal memories of Robert Whalen and Margaret Buckingham and remember the occasions when I returned to Paris to honour François Gros.
{"title":"Memories of Professor François Gros.","authors":"Shin'ichi Takeda","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.141","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.141","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>I joined the laboratory of Professor Francois Gros in 1987 and worked there as a postdoc with Robert Whalen until 1992. I recount the research we carried out and mention that of the other scientists also working on skeletal muscle on the 6th floor of the Molecular Biology Department of the Institut Pasteur at that time. I then present my subsequent research when I returned to Japan. I pay tribute to the influence of Professor Gros and to his support in establishing Japanese/French meetings on muscle biology and muscular dystrophy. I also invoke personal memories of Robert Whalen and Margaret Buckingham and remember the occasions when I returned to Paris to honour François Gros.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138799805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
I joined François Gros' laboratory in 1975, to study mechanisms of gene expression in eukaryotes. Despite the lack of powerful tools, that would be brought later by genetic engineering, I obtained publishable results and was allowed to defend a third cycle thesis. Thereafter, I joined Margaret Buckingham's group, which was empowering within François' laboratory. I maintained regular meetings with François, a leading figure but a secretive man, who did not readily open up. It was my privilege, over the more than 45 years I have been around him, to have glimpses over what had been really significant to him. This has been a rich and very precious experience.
{"title":"[François Gros: a leading figure, a secretive man].","authors":"Benoît Robert","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.142","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.142","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>I joined François Gros' laboratory in 1975, to study mechanisms of gene expression in eukaryotes. Despite the lack of powerful tools, that would be brought later by genetic engineering, I obtained publishable results and was allowed to defend a third cycle thesis. Thereafter, I joined Margaret Buckingham's group, which was empowering within François' laboratory. I maintained regular meetings with François, a leading figure but a secretive man, who did not readily open up. It was my privilege, over the more than 45 years I have been around him, to have glimpses over what had been really significant to him. This has been a rich and very precious experience.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139472967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gillian Butler-Browne began working on muscle at the Institut Pasteur in the laboratory of François Gros in 1978. She characterized the expression profile of different myosin isoforms during both human and rodent development. Vincent Mouly joined this laboratory for his PhD in 1982, and defined the different populations of myoblasts appearing during development in birds and then in humans. Together, they demonstrated the impact of the limit in proliferation of the precursor cells on the regenerative capacity of human skeletal muscle, and their group developed models to evaluate the regenerative potential of skeletal muscle in vitro, measuring the telomeric erosion, and identified the involvement of a stress pathway in the proliferative arrest of muscle progenitors. A platform to produce human immortalized muscle cell lines was the successful result of this research, initiated with François Gros and W. E. Wright. The in vivo regenerative potential of human muscle cells was evaluated by injection into muscles of immunodeficient mice. Their group in collaboration with the clinical team of Professor Jean Lacau St-Guily and Professor Sophie Perié completed a successful autologous myoblast transplantation clinical trial for Oculo-pharyngeal muscular dystrophy. This common scientific career was made possible thanks to the precious and always benevolent support of François Gros.
吉莉安-巴特勒-布朗于 1978 年开始在巴斯德研究所弗朗索瓦-格罗斯实验室从事肌肉研究。她研究了人类和啮齿动物发育过程中不同肌球蛋白同工酶的表达谱。1982年,文森特-穆利(Vincent Mouly)加入该实验室攻读博士学位,并确定了在鸟类和人类发育过程中出现的不同肌细胞群。他们共同证明了前体细胞增殖限制对人类骨骼肌再生能力的影响,他们的研究小组开发了评估体外骨骼肌再生潜力的模型,测量端粒侵蚀,并确定了肌肉祖细胞增殖停滞的应激途径。与弗朗索瓦-格罗斯(François Gros)和 W. E. 赖特(W. E. Wright)共同发起的这项研究成功地建立了一个生产人类永生肌肉细胞系的平台。通过向免疫缺陷小鼠的肌肉注射,对人类肌肉细胞的体内再生潜力进行了评估。他们的研究小组与让-拉考-圣吉利(Jean Lacau St-Guily)教授和索菲-佩里(Sophie Perié)教授的临床团队合作,成功完成了治疗眼咽肌营养不良症的自体肌细胞移植临床试验。这一共同的科学事业之所以能够取得成功,要归功于弗朗索瓦-格罗斯(François Gros)始终给予的宝贵而仁慈的支持。
{"title":"Our journey with François Gros.","authors":"Gillian Butler-Browne, Vincent Mouly","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.140","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.140","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gillian Butler-Browne began working on muscle at the Institut Pasteur in the laboratory of François Gros in 1978. She characterized the expression profile of different myosin isoforms during both human and rodent development. Vincent Mouly joined this laboratory for his PhD in 1982, and defined the different populations of myoblasts appearing during development in birds and then in humans. Together, they demonstrated the impact of the limit in proliferation of the precursor cells on the regenerative capacity of human skeletal muscle, and their group developed models to evaluate the regenerative potential of skeletal muscle in vitro, measuring the telomeric erosion, and identified the involvement of a stress pathway in the proliferative arrest of muscle progenitors. A platform to produce human immortalized muscle cell lines was the successful result of this research, initiated with François Gros and W. E. Wright. The in vivo regenerative potential of human muscle cells was evaluated by injection into muscles of immunodeficient mice. Their group in collaboration with the clinical team of Professor Jean Lacau St-Guily and Professor Sophie Perié completed a successful autologous myoblast transplantation clinical trial for Oculo-pharyngeal muscular dystrophy. This common scientific career was made possible thanks to the precious and always benevolent support of François Gros.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138799874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
I joined the laboratory of François Gros as a young student in the mid-1980s and worked on the characterization of the -tropomyosin gene in chicken and the regulation of alternative splicing of its transcript, under the supervision of Marc Fiszman. In particular, I was interested in how secondary structures of the RNA influence the recognition of exons specifically used in muscle cells. I will recall a few memories on how interacting with François on this project shaped my perception of the scientific process and of the relationships between models and data. Later I worked on many aspects of RNA biology, from transcription to mRNP biogenesis and non-coding RNAs.
{"title":"Memories of a young student: the early days of splicing regulation with François Gros.","authors":"Domenico Libri","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.138","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.138","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>I joined the laboratory of François Gros as a young student in the mid-1980s and worked on the characterization of the <math><mi>β</mi></math>-tropomyosin gene in chicken and the regulation of alternative splicing of its transcript, under the supervision of Marc Fiszman. In particular, I was interested in how secondary structures of the RNA influence the recognition of exons specifically used in muscle cells. I will recall a few memories on how interacting with François on this project shaped my perception of the scientific process and of the relationships between models and data. Later I worked on many aspects of RNA biology, from transcription to mRNP biogenesis and non-coding RNAs.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139486841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
It was at the Pasteur Institute, in François Gros' laboratory, that I had the opportunity to discover the world of research. An opportunity in more ways than one, first because of the nature of the subject, myogenesis, which lent itself particularly well to cellular and genetic approaches to development and differentiation in vertebrates. An opportunity also because the head of the laboratory, François Gros, who was responsible for the choice of this topic, had created an environment in which researchers could develop their projects with great confidence and freedom.
{"title":"[Along the road with François].","authors":"Didier Montarras","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.136","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.136","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It was at the Pasteur Institute, in François Gros' laboratory, that I had the opportunity to discover the world of research. An opportunity in more ways than one, first because of the nature of the subject, myogenesis, which lent itself particularly well to cellular and genetic approaches to development and differentiation in vertebrates. An opportunity also because the head of the laboratory, François Gros, who was responsible for the choice of this topic, had created an environment in which researchers could develop their projects with great confidence and freedom.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138813936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Congenital heart defects (CHD) affect 1 in 100 live births and result from defects in cardiac development. Growth of the early heart tube occurs by the progressive addition of second heart field (SHF) progenitor cells to the cardiac poles. The SHF gives rise to ventricular septal, right ventricular and outflow tract myocardium at the arterial pole, and atrial, including atrial septal myocardium, at the venous pole. SHF deployment creates the template for subsequent cardiac septation and has been implicated in cardiac looping and in orchestrating outflow tract development with neural crest cells. Genetic or environmental perturbation of SHF deployment thus underlies a spectrum of common forms of CHD affecting conotruncal and septal morphogenesis. Here we review the major properties of SHF cells as well as recent insights into the developmental programs that drive normal cardiac progenitor cell addition and the origins of CHD.
{"title":"On the involvement of the second heart field in congenital heart defects.","authors":"Clara Guijarro, Robert G Kelly","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.151","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.151","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Congenital heart defects (CHD) affect 1 in 100 live births and result from defects in cardiac development. Growth of the early heart tube occurs by the progressive addition of second heart field (SHF) progenitor cells to the cardiac poles. The SHF gives rise to ventricular septal, right ventricular and outflow tract myocardium at the arterial pole, and atrial, including atrial septal myocardium, at the venous pole. SHF deployment creates the template for subsequent cardiac septation and has been implicated in cardiac looping and in orchestrating outflow tract development with neural crest cells. Genetic or environmental perturbation of SHF deployment thus underlies a spectrum of common forms of CHD affecting conotruncal and septal morphogenesis. Here we review the major properties of SHF cells as well as recent insights into the developmental programs that drive normal cardiac progenitor cell addition and the origins of CHD.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140133286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tracing the phylogenetic relationships between species is one of the fundamental objectives of evolutionary biology. Since Charles Darwin's seminal work in the 19th century, considerable progress has been made towards establishing a tree of life that summarises the evolutionary history of species. Nevertheless, substantial uncertainties still remain. Specifically, the relationships at the origins of teleost fishes have been the subject of extensive debate over the last 50 years. This question has major implications for various research fields: there are almost 30,000 species in the teleost group, which includes invaluable model organisms for biomedical, evolutionary and ecological studies. Here, we present the work in which we solved this enigma. We demonstrated that eels are more closely related to bony-tongued fishes than to the rest of teleost fishes. We achieved this by taking advantage of new genomic data and leveraging innovative phylogenetic markers. Notably, in addition to traditional molecular phylogeny methods based on the evolution of gene sequences, we also considered the evolution of gene order along the DNA molecule. We discuss the challenges and opportunities that these new markers represent for the field of molecular phylogeny, and in particular the possibilities they offer for re-examining other controversial branches in the tree of life.
追踪物种之间的系统发育关系是进化生物学的基本目标之一。自 19 世纪查尔斯-达尔文的开创性工作以来,在建立概括物种进化史的生命树方面取得了长足进展。然而,仍然存在大量不确定因素。具体来说,在过去的 50 年中,远志鱼类的起源关系一直是广泛争论的主题。这个问题对各个研究领域都有重大影响:长目鱼类有近 30,000 个物种,其中包括生物医学、进化和生态学研究的宝贵模式生物。在这里,我们介绍了我们解开这一谜团的工作。我们证明,鳗鱼与骨舌鱼类的亲缘关系比与其他远洋鱼类的亲缘关系更为密切。我们利用新的基因组数据和创新的系统发育标记实现了这一目标。值得注意的是,除了基于基因序列进化的传统分子系统进化方法外,我们还考虑了 DNA 分子中基因顺序的进化。我们讨论了这些新标记对分子系统发育领域带来的挑战和机遇,特别是它们为重新审视生命树中其他有争议的分支提供的可能性。
{"title":"Solving an enigma in the tree of life, at the origins of teleost fishes.","authors":"Elise Parey, Camille Berthelot, Hugues Roest Crollius, Yann Guiguen","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.150","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.150","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tracing the phylogenetic relationships between species is one of the fundamental objectives of evolutionary biology. Since Charles Darwin's seminal work in the 19th century, considerable progress has been made towards establishing a tree of life that summarises the evolutionary history of species. Nevertheless, substantial uncertainties still remain. Specifically, the relationships at the origins of teleost fishes have been the subject of extensive debate over the last 50 years. This question has major implications for various research fields: there are almost 30,000 species in the teleost group, which includes invaluable model organisms for biomedical, evolutionary and ecological studies. Here, we present the work in which we solved this enigma. We demonstrated that eels are more closely related to bony-tongued fishes than to the rest of teleost fishes. We achieved this by taking advantage of new genomic data and leveraging innovative phylogenetic markers. Notably, in addition to traditional molecular phylogeny methods based on the evolution of gene sequences, we also considered the evolution of gene order along the DNA molecule. We discuss the challenges and opportunities that these new markers represent for the field of molecular phylogeny, and in particular the possibilities they offer for re-examining other controversial branches in the tree of life.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140029630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antibiotic resistance is the direct deleterious consequence of two synergistic causes linked to human activity: the massive use of antibiotics in human and animal health, which leads to the selection of the most resistant bacteria, and the spread of these selected resistant bacteria, directly by cross-transmission within human and animal populations and indirectly via the environment. The "one health" concept enables an integrated approach of the various components of the issue, linking human, animal and environmental ecosystems and their dynamics.
{"title":"[Antibiotic resistance: a good example of the \"one health\" concept].","authors":"Vincent Jarlier","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.139","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.139","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Antibiotic resistance is the direct deleterious consequence of two synergistic causes linked to human activity: the massive use of antibiotics in human and animal health, which leads to the selection of the most resistant bacteria, and the spread of these selected resistant bacteria, directly by cross-transmission within human and animal populations and indirectly via the environment. The \"one health\" concept enables an integrated approach of the various components of the issue, linking human, animal and environmental ecosystems and their dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139522255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Transferring an asexual mode of reproduction by seeds (apomixis) to cultivated plants would enable clonal reproduction of heterozygous genotypes such as F1 hybrids with hybrid vigor (heterosis), facilitating their access and multiplication by small-scale growers. Although sources of apomixis and the genetic loci controlling its constituent elements have been identified in wild species, their transfer by crossing to cultivated species has so far been unsuccessful. Here, we have introduced synthetic apomixis in hybrid rice to produce a high (95-100%) frequency of clonal seeds, via the inactivation of three meiotic genes-resulting in unreduced, non-recombined gametes-and the addition of an egg cell parthenogenesis trigger. The genotype and phenotype, including grain quality, of the F1 hybrid are reproduced identically in the clonal apomictic progenies. These results make synthetic apomixis compatible with future use in agriculture.
将种子的无性繁殖模式(无性繁殖)转移到栽培植物上,可以实现杂合基因型的克隆繁殖,如具有杂交活力(异交)的 F1 杂交种,便于小规模种植者获取和繁殖。虽然在野生物种中已经确定了无花果异花授粉的来源和控制其组成元素的基因位点,但迄今为止,通过杂交将其转移到栽培物种中的做法并不成功。在这里,我们在杂交水稻中引入了人工合成的无性繁殖,通过使三个减数分裂基因失活--导致配子不还原、不重组--并添加卵细胞孤雌生殖触发器,产生了高频率(95%-100%)的克隆种子。F1 代杂交种的基因型和表型(包括谷物品质)在克隆无性繁殖后代中的复制完全相同。这些结果使人工合成无性繁殖今后可用于农业。
{"title":"Clonal reproduction by seed of a cultivated hybrid plant: a new perspective for small-scale rice growers.","authors":"Aurore Vernet, Donaldo Meynard, Emmanuel Guiderdoni","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.125","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.125","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transferring an asexual mode of reproduction by seeds (apomixis) to cultivated plants would enable clonal reproduction of heterozygous genotypes such as F1 hybrids with hybrid vigor (heterosis), facilitating their access and multiplication by small-scale growers. Although sources of apomixis and the genetic loci controlling its constituent elements have been identified in wild species, their transfer by crossing to cultivated species has so far been unsuccessful. Here, we have introduced synthetic apomixis in hybrid rice to produce a high (95-100%) frequency of clonal seeds, via the inactivation of three meiotic genes-resulting in unreduced, non-recombined gametes-and the addition of an egg cell parthenogenesis trigger. The genotype and phenotype, including grain quality, of the F1 hybrid are reproduced identically in the clonal apomictic progenies. These results make synthetic apomixis compatible with future use in agriculture.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139418659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is at the core of numerous psychiatric conditions, including fear and anxiety-related disorders. Whereas an abundance of evidence suggests a crucial role of the mPFC in regulating fear behaviour, the precise role of the mPFC in this process is not yet entirely clear. While studies at the single-cell level have demonstrated the involvement of this area in various aspects of fear processing, such as the encoding of threat-related cues and fear expression, an increasingly prevalent idea in the systems neuroscience field is that populations of neurons are, in fact, the essential unit of computation in many integrative brain regions such as prefrontal areas. What mPFC neuronal populations represent when we face threats? To address this question, we performed electrophysiological single-unit population recordings in the dorsal mPFC while mice faced threat-predicting cues eliciting defensive behaviours, and performed pharmacological and optogenetic inactivations of this area and the amygdala. Our data indicated that the presence of threat-predicting cues induces a stable coding dynamics of internally driven representations in the dorsal mPFC, necessary to drive learned defensive behaviours. Moreover, these neural population representations primary reflect learned associations rather than specific defensive behaviours, and the construct of such representations relies on the functional integrity of the amygdala.
{"title":"Stable coding of aversive associations in medial prefrontal populations.","authors":"Cyril Herry, Daniel Jercog","doi":"10.5802/crbiol.126","DOIUrl":"10.5802/crbiol.126","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is at the core of numerous psychiatric conditions, including fear and anxiety-related disorders. Whereas an abundance of evidence suggests a crucial role of the mPFC in regulating fear behaviour, the precise role of the mPFC in this process is not yet entirely clear. While studies at the single-cell level have demonstrated the involvement of this area in various aspects of fear processing, such as the encoding of threat-related cues and fear expression, an increasingly prevalent idea in the systems neuroscience field is that populations of neurons are, in fact, the essential unit of computation in many integrative brain regions such as prefrontal areas. What mPFC neuronal populations represent when we face threats? To address this question, we performed electrophysiological single-unit population recordings in the dorsal mPFC while mice faced threat-predicting cues eliciting defensive behaviours, and performed pharmacological and optogenetic inactivations of this area and the amygdala. Our data indicated that the presence of threat-predicting cues induces a stable coding dynamics of internally driven representations in the dorsal mPFC, necessary to drive learned defensive behaviours. Moreover, these neural population representations primary reflect learned associations rather than specific defensive behaviours, and the construct of such representations relies on the functional integrity of the amygdala.</p>","PeriodicalId":55231,"journal":{"name":"Comptes Rendus Biologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138813864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}