New research shows that crustaceans such as shrimps, lobsters and crabs have more in common with their insect relatives than previously thought – when it comes to the structure of their brains.
New research shows that crustaceans such as shrimps, lobsters and crabs have more in common with their insect relatives than previously thought – when it comes to the structure of their brains.
Both insects and crustaceans possess mushroom-shaped brain structures known in insects to be required for learning, memory and possibly negotiating complex, three-dimensional environments, according to the study, led by University of Arizona neuroscientist Nicholas Strausfeld.
The research, published in the open-access journal eLife, challenges a widely held belief in the scientific community that these brain structures – called "mushroom bodies" – are conspicuously absent from crustacean brains.
In 2017, Strausfeld's team reported a detailed analysis of mushroom bodies discovered in the brain of the mantis shrimp, Squilla mantis. In the current paper, the group provides evidence that neuro-anatomical features that define mushroom bodies – at one time thought to be an evolutionary feature proprietary to insects – are present across crustaceans, a group that includes more than 50,000 species.
Read more at University of Arizona
Image: Antibody labeling reveals the columnar lobe of a mushroom body in the brain of a broken-back shrimp (lower right). Closer examination reveals neurons organized in intricate networks (lower left). CREDITS: Nicholas Strausfeld, Gabriella Wolff and Marcel Sayre
