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Myosin plays a key role in cortical expansion

It is the most fascinating organ: the human brain. How a single layer of cells develops into a comple organ, this is studied in the lab of Wieland Huttner, director and research group leader at the MPI-CBG. "For this organ it is true: Size matters!", Huttner jokes. Brain size does correlate to intelligence; and the human brain is many times bigger than the brains of similar mammalians. 

So during human brain development, a first step is to produce many, many cells. The Dresden research team has identified a key player in the process: The motor protein myosin drives the contraction that moves the cell nuclei of neuronal stem cells. This is a key process in cortical expansion and thus a hallmark in human brain development. (PNAS, 22 September, 2009)

Read the German press release.