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Development of neurons and glia Editorial overview

The process by which a mature animal is produced from a single cell has fascinated and puzzled scientists and non-scientists alike for centuries. The nervous system took center stage in many of the pioneering studies on animal development, and neurodevelopment can trace its modern origins back to studies by Wilhem His and Ramon y Cajal in the 1800s. The stereotyped nature of developmental processes led to the notion that these must, in some way, be programmed within the animal — a remarkable feat given the cellular complexity of the brain. Nevertheless, this hypothesis is now taken for granted due to the pioneering work done with genetically tractable model organisms in which developmental defects have been linked to specific genes and signaling pathways. Despite the anatomical and functional differences between vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems, there is a remarkable degree of conservation in the signaling pathways and cellular processes across evolution. This feature has been exploited in many labs to uncover general principles in neurodevelopment ranging from gene regulation and specification of cell identity, to signaling pathways for growth, differentiation and morphogenesis of neural tissue, to identification of cellular processes and genetic components that establish proper patterns of neuronal connectivity.