Eve Seuntjens, PhD

Department of Biology

KU Leuven

Octopus vulgaris brain development

Octopus vulgaris is a mollusk, like clams and snails, yet presents unequalled cognitive capacity such as adaptive learning, decision making, forward thinking and planning, combined with innovative behaviours such as millisecond camouflage. These behaviours are controlled by a nervous system that resembles mammalian nervous systems in terms of neuronal number and wiring complexity, but is differently organised. Based on phylogeny, it seems cephalopods have evolved this nervous system complexity independently from vertebrates. In that sense, they represent ideal animal models to investigate the molecular mechanisms essential to evolution of neural cell diversity. 

Our team has shown that the hatchling Octopus vulgaris brain, that is largely postmitotic, arises to a large extent from a neurogenic region around the eye placode. This region, called lateral lips, generates neuronal cells of the brain in a spatially organised manner. The larval brain is capable of driving innate visually driven hunting and camouflaging behavior, but is still immature. The cell diversity within this hatchling brain is already massive, as we found out through single-cell and nuclei RNAseq experiments. We found several clusters related to visual function located in the optic lobe, as well as a central brain cluster linked to memory and learning. 

In sum, we slowly discover the building blocks that this species uses to drive its exceptional behavioral repertoire, which will enable us to identify the molecular underpinnings behind complex brain development.
 

Host Information:

Astrid Deryckere [email protected]

The Columbia Neuroscience Seminar series is a collaborative effort of Columbia's Zuckerman Institute, the Department of Neuroscience, the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior and the Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative, and with support from the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.