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Neuroscience

Excessive mobility interrupted

Nature volume 468, pages 383–384 (2010)Cite this article

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Mobile DNA sequences called L1 contribute to the brain's genetic heterogeneity and may affect neuron function. The protein MeCP2, which is mutated in Rett syndrome, seems to regulate the activity of these genomic elements. See Letter p.443

In his struggle to rationalize the laws of quantum mechanics, Albert Einstein once wrote that God “does not play dice”. A similar struggle comes to mind when trying to understand the biological consequences of several reports from the labs of Gage and Muotri, including one appearing on page 443 of this issue (Muotri et al.1). These studies offer evidence for the occurrence of quasi-random genetic changes in neurons during development. The work raises provocative questions about whether 'playing dice' during brain development contributes to the differences that make each of us unique, and how such changes may be related to brain disorders.

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Figure 1: Regulation of L1 expression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lorenz Studer is in the Center for Stem Cell Biology, Developmental Biology Program, Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, New York 10065, USA. studerl@mskcc.org,

    Lorenz Studer

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  1. Lorenz Studer
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Studer, L. Excessive mobility interrupted. Nature 468, 383–384 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/468383a

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