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SUMMARY:Feline Lindhount: Linking human neurodevelopmental timing and evol
 ution\, James Fitzsimmons: Brassinosteroid controls leaf air space pattern
 ing non-cell autonomously by promoting epidermal growth - Feline Lindhount
 \, James Fitzsimmons
DTSTART:20260302T143000Z
DTEND:20260302T153000Z
UID:TALK241606@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jia CHEN
DESCRIPTION:TALK 1 \n\nName:  Feline Lindhount \n\nAffiliation: MRC LMB \n
 \nTitle: Linking human neurodevelopmental timing and evolution \n \n\nAbst
 ract: Many hallmark features of the human brain\, including its large size
 \, complex neuronal architecture\, and extensive connectivity\, have emerg
 ed alongside a strikingly prolonged developmental timeline. In this talk\,
  I will examine how extended neurodevelopmental time contributes to distin
 ct human brain morphologies\, using comparative human and mouse brain orga
 noid models. I will present evidence for a newly identified evolutionary t
 iming mechanism based on calcium dynamics\, and discuss how this mechanism
  is linked to the expansion of axon tract morphologies in humans\, a key f
 eature underlying human brain connectivity. \n\nTALK2: \n\nName: James Fit
 zsimmons\n\nTitle: Brassinosteroid controls leaf air space patterning non-
 cell autonomously by promoting epidermal growth\n\nAbstract:\nPlant leaves
  can be composed of up to 70% air in a network of intercellular spaces bet
 ween mesophyll cells. Intercellular leaf air spaces are critical for gas e
 xchange and enhance light scattering for photosynthesis\, but little is kn
 own about how they form or develop. We tested a century old hypothesis tha
 t faster growth in the epidermis pulls the internal mesophyll cells apart 
 to form air spaces. We characterise air space development in the first tru
 e leaves of A. thaliana and show that the phytohormone brassinosteroid is 
 required for palisade mesophyll air space expansion. We demonstrate that e
 pidermal brassinosteroid perception is sufficient to promote air space pat
 terning in palisade mesophyll non-cell autonomously\, and that an absence 
 of brassinosteroid signalling leads to air spaces being lost during leaf d
 evelopment. We then tested whether restricting epidermal growth could redu
 ce mesophyll air space. By expressing the growth repressing E3 ligase BIG 
 BROTHER in the epidermis\, we show that epidermal growth restriction reduc
 es air space expansion in the neighbouring mesophyll cell layers.  Overall
 \, we propose that brassinosteroid signalling promotes epidermal growth to
  pattern air spaces in the palisade mesophyll. 
LOCATION:in person at Level 2 meeting room\, Gurdon Institute and online
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