Development of diencephalic asymmetries in zebrafish and chick embryos. (360G-Wellcome-099749_Z_12_Z)

While most of the body is symmetrical with respect to the midline, a few functions, including higher order behaviours and cognitive functions in the brain, have evolved to be concentrated on one (left or right) side. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying left/right asymmetry of body organs are now fairly well understood, we still know little about how lateralised brain functions arise during development. Recent research has discovered that the parapineal, an asymmetrically positioned group of neurons in the left diencephalon, is essential for development of asymmetries in the adjacent epithalamus, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms of this regulation. Also, no region equivalent to parapineal has yet been discovered in most vertebrates including birds and mammals, whereas the molecular pathways leading to epithalamic asymmetries are likely to be conserved. This project explores how epithalamic asymmetries develop in two different species - zebrafish and chicken, first by establishing the molecular mechanisms by which the parapineal regulates this process in zebrafish, then by studying