Molecular genetic approaches to understanding brain development and behaviour

An understanding of brain development and brain function at the level of the genome is developing rapidly, because of the availability of new technologies in molecular and cellular biology. This understanding can be further enhanced by an interactive exchange between the disciplines of behavioural neuroscience and molecular genetics. New genes are being cloned almost daily, but their function remains an enigma. The purpose of this review is to illustrate how reporter genes can be used to map the brain's genetic activity in developmental time and anatomical space. The production of mutants in the homozygous condition may further lead to a morphological or behavioural phenotype. A knowledge of behavioural neuroscience can provide a prescreen of the reporter distribution and thereby make predictions concerning the type of behavioural analysis required. This approach allows selective cloning and sequencing of those genes which have either a morphological or behavioural phenotype but are transcribed at low levels. It is known that genomic imprinting influences brain development, and also that human genetic mutations and deletions influence imprinting in mental retardation as well as certain behavioural disorders. Precisely how such imprinted genes influence brain development and behaviour is being pursued by the use of chimeras. The distribution of maternal or paternal disomy cells in the brain and the way they influence behaviour may reveal the phenotype and how this is brought about.