Proper brain development requires the right combination of sugars, according to new research published in Science. Researchers at the#UniversityofCopenhagen have found that a molecule known as mir-79 is crucial to the development of the nervous system in C. elegans. Their experiments showed that mir-79 works by controlling the addition of certain sugars to particular signaling molecules. When nerve cells in the developing worm brain come in contact with these sugar-transmitters, they know where to migrate. Remove mir-79 and this migration stops working properly. Humans carry a version of this molecule known as mir-9, and the researchers say that these results are important in not only understanding neural development early in life, but also in figuring out how to help the brain repair itself after an injury.
Read more: http://bit.ly/1bvIQli
Journal article: An Epidermal MicroRNA Regulates #NeuronalMigrationThrough Control of the Cellular Glycosylation State. Science, 2013