Yuxiang LiuUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center | UT Southwestern · Department of Neuroscience
Yuxiang Liu
Doctor of Philosophy
About
25
Publications
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Introduction
Yuxiang Liu currently works at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Yuxiang does research in Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Neuroscience. Their current project is 'Neurogenomics of human brain specialization.'
Additional affiliations
April 2009 - June 2010
Publications
Publications (25)
Available online MS. number: A15-00367R Keywords: behavioural flexibility lose-shift poison frog rule-based learning strategy serial reversal learning win-stay Behavioural flexibility is essential for survival in a world with changing contingencies and its evolution is linked to complex physical and social environments. Serial reversal learning, in...
The molecular mechanisms underlying human brain evolution are not fully understood; however, previous work suggested that expression of the transcription factor CLOCK in the human cortex might be relevant to human cognition and disease. In this study, we investigated this novel transcriptional role for CLOCK in human neurons by performing chromatin...
A fundamental question in cognitive science is whether an animal can use a cognitive map. A cognitive map is a mental representation of the external world, and knowledge of one's place in this world, that can be used to determine efficient routes to any destination. Many birds and mammals are known to employ a cognitive map, but whether other verte...
Ambient RNA contamination in single-cell and single-nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) is a significant problem, but its consequences are poorly understood. Here, we show that ambient RNAs in brain snRNA-seq datasets have a nuclear or non-nuclear origin with distinct gene set signatures. Both ambient RNA signatures are predominantly neuronal, and we...
Core circadian-related proteins such as the transcription factor CLOCK are ubiquitously expressed and important for regulating molecular pathways underlying circadian rhythms. Previous work has suggested that CLOCK has evolved human neocortex-specific gene regulation and therefore may have extra-circadian functions. To test this in vivo, we generat...
Human-specific genomic changes contribute to the unique functionalities of the human brain1–5. The cellular heterogeneity of the human brain6,7 and the complex regulation of gene expression highlight the need to characterize human-specific molecular features at cellular resolution. Here we analysed single-nucleus RNA-sequencing and single-nucleus a...
Ambient RNA contamination in single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is a significant problem, but its consequences are poorly understood. Here, we show that ambient RNAs in brain single-nuclei RNA-seq can have a nuclear or extra-nuclear origin with distinct gene set signatures. Both ambient RNA signatures are predominantly neuronal and we find that s...
From 2000 to 2002, the reproductive ecology of the endangered Hainan four eye-spotted turtle (Sacalia insulensis) was studied on Hainan Island, China. A total of 147 adult females were captured, and their reproductive status was evaluated by palpation, X-ray imaging, and ultrasound. Twenty-two gravid females were under observation when they laid th...
Synopsis
A long-standing question in animal behavior is what are the patterns and processes that shape the evolution of cognition? One effective way to address this question is to study cognitive abilities in a broad spectrum of animals. While comparative psychologists have traditionally focused on a narrow range of organisms, today they may work w...
A comprehensive understanding of animal cognition requires the integration of studies on behavior, electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, development, and genomics. Although studies of comparative cognition are receiving increasing attention from organismal biologists, most current studies focus on the comparison of behaviors and anatomical structures to...
High-throughput genomic sequencing approaches have held the promise of understanding and ultimately leading to treatments for cognitive disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer disease. While significant progress has been made into identifying genetic variants associated with these diseases, these studies have also...
Synopsis
The complexity of an animal’s interaction with its physical and/or social environment is thought to be associated with behavioral flexibility and cognitive phenotype, though we know little about this relationship in amphibians. We examined differences in cognitive phenotype in two species of frog with divergent natural histories. The green...
In túngara frogs, female mate choice requires remembering the location and/or calls of preferred males who advertise from fixed positions within a breeding pond. A previous study found that, when solving a place discrimination task in the laboratory, female túngara frogs were able to learn a visual cue to solve the task, whereas males were not. In...
The adaptive specialization hypothesis states that sex differences in cognition are shaped by differences in cognitive demands to solve ecological problems. While it is widely accepted that female mate choice can lead to the evolution of exaggerated male traits, mate choice might also select for different cognitive abilities in males and females. I...
Most vertebrate species are bisexual. But as well as the sexual behavior, same-sex mating-like behavior sometimes occurs. Recently, the same-sex mounting reported from chelonians was reviewed. The potential causes for such behavior that were hypothesized, such as dearth of correct mates or expression of dominance, are of the social domain. On furth...
Same-sex mounting is an aspect of animal behavior that has received increased attention in recent years in an attempt to improve our limited understanding of the possible causal mechanisms. Here, to our knowledge, we review for the first time same-sex mounting in turtles and tortoises. To this end, we have compiled data on same-sex mounts in 13 che...
Short note describing a same-sex mounting in Kinosternon scorpioides in captivity.
Freshwater turtle courtship is an exciting and potentially phylogenetically important field of study. Scattered data exist from the past century of research, yet no recent summary is available. Courtship in freshwater turtles includes a number of common behaviors, which usually involve visual, tactile, olfactory, and auditory signals. These signals...
In 1998, a study on forty-five four-eyed turtles (Sacalia quadriocellata) was initiated to gather preliminary biological data of this species and to investigate the feasibility of its captive reproduction. In the following six years, no courtship behavior was found occurring in males and no oviposition in females. From 2004 to 2007, two successful...
Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) is known to influence sexual behavior in many vertebrate taxa, but there have been no systematic studies on the role of LHRH in sexual behavior of turtles. We tested the hypotheses that exogenous LHRH analogues would induce sexual behavior of male Four-eyed turtle, Sacalia quadriocellata. We examined thi...
In 1998, a study on forty-five four-eyed turtles (Sacalia quadriocellata) was initiated to gather preliminary biological data of this species and to investigate the feasibility of its captive reproduction. In the following six years, no courtship behavior was found occurring in males and no oviposition in females. From 2004 to 2007, two successful...
From August 2002 through July 2004, the 24-hour time budget and activity rhythm of 15 captive, wild-caught, adult Sacalia quadriocellata (eight females, seven males) from Qiongzhong, Hainan Island, was observed by all-occurrence and scan sampling methods. The results showed that S. quadriocellata spends most of its time resting (mean 96.9%) and lit...
To construct an ethogram of Sacalia quadriocellata and introduce coding system into chelonian behavior research for quantitative comparison, 15 captive S. quadriocellata (eight females and seven males) were observed for one year using a digital surveillance system, and an ethogram constructed. Fourteen types of states and 84 types of events were re...
A total of 168 courtship sequences from 12 male and 18 female adult captive Sacalia quadriocellata were recorded on video. Thirty male and four female discrete motor patterns were defined and described. The behavioural sequences were summarized in an intra-individual dyadic transition matrix and analyzed using chi-square and kappa analyses. Courtsh...
Questions
Question (1)
I knocked down a gene in human neural progenitor derived neurons for a neurosphere migration assay. I found that the KD neurons migrated longer distance than WT neurons. However, when I knockout the same gene in mouse model, I found that the KO mice showed decreased cortical thickness. I am wondering if there is any underlying mechanism to explain this conflict.
Thanks!
