For #neuropeptide afficionados:
Interesting new paper from James Checco's lab on two #Aplysia #allatotropin / #orexin receptors, one activated by a D-peptide the other one by an L-peptide.
Conversion of an L-stereoisomer to a D-stereoisomer is a big mystery in peptide biology - but it matters for rec specificity and lifetime.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2217604120

Synaptic plasticity in the marine slug #Aplysia and the cephalopod #Octopus rely on very similar, highly elaborated molecular pathways. However, sophisticated cephalopods such as #Octopus exhibit higher degree of complexity in their cognitive ability than gastropods such as #Aplysia.
This study by Orvis et al., suggests that increased complexity of the synaptic proteome doesn't mirror enhanced cognitive sophistication.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2122301119

#introduction (2).
I am a neurophysiologist interested in decision-making systems constituted of small number of neurons, whose functional/synaptic properties and individual involvement in genesis of a behavior are identified.

Hopefully, I will be able to share some science soon.

#Aplysia #neuroscience #learning & #memory #epigenetics #plasticity #neuromodulation