The reeler gene: a clue to brain development and evolution.

Reeler mutant mice are characterized by profuse anomalies of cell positioning in the telencephalic and cerebellar cortices as well as by distinct malformations in non-cortical structures such as the inferior olive, the facial nerve nucleus and other brainstem nuclei. Studies of the embryonic development of these structures reveal that the early cell patterns formed by reeler neurons is consistently affected, so that the reeler gene plays an important role in the development of nerve cell patterns. Comparative studies of cortical development in reptiles suggest further that the mammalian type of cortical architectonics has been acquired progressively during brain evolution, and reveal some similarities in early cortical organization between reeler and reptilian, particularly chelonian, embryos, most notably the presence of an inverted gradient of cortical histogenesis. These observations point to a possible role of the reeler gene in cortical evolution. Although the factors responsible for the formation of neural cell patterns are largely unknown, most data point to the importance of cell-cell interactions. Cell-interaction molecules have probably been acquired during brain evolution and the reeler gene could act by perturbing, directly or indirectly, such cell interactions. The characterization and thus the cloning of the reeler gene is therefore important for our understanding of brain development. Recent data on the fine chromosomal mapping of the mutation prior to its positional cloning are reported.