PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Shun Li
AU  - Fan Wang
TI  - Vertebrate Evolution Conserves Hindbrain Circuits despite Diverse Feeding and Breathing Modes
AID  - 10.1523/ENEURO.0435-20.2021
DP  - 2021 Mar 01
TA  - eneuro
PG  - ENEURO.0435-20.2021
VI  - 8
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/8/2/ENEURO.0435-20.2021.short
4100  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/8/2/ENEURO.0435-20.2021.full
SO  - eNeuro2021 Mar 01; 8
AB  - Feeding and breathing are two functions vital to the survival of all vertebrate species. Throughout the evolution, vertebrates living in different environments have evolved drastically different modes of feeding and breathing through using diversified orofacial and pharyngeal (oropharyngeal) muscles. The oropharyngeal structures are controlled by hindbrain neural circuits. The developing hindbrain shares strikingly conserved organizations and gene expression patterns across vertebrates, thus begs the question of how a highly conserved hindbrain generates circuits subserving diverse feeding/breathing patterns. In this review, we summarize major modes of feeding and breathing and principles underlying their coordination in many vertebrate species. We provide a hypothesis for the existence of a common hindbrain circuit at the phylotypic embryonic stage controlling oropharyngeal movements that is shared across vertebrate species; and reconfiguration and repurposing of this conserved circuit give rise to more complex behaviors in adult higher vertebrates.