Evolution of Animal Neural Systems

Abstract

Nervous systems are one of the most spectacular products of evolution. Their provenance and evolution have been an area of interest and often intense debate since the late 19th century. The genomics era has provided researchers with a new set of tools with which to study the early evolution of neurons, and recent progress on the molecular evolution of the first neurons has been both exciting and frustrating. It has become increasingly obvious that genomic data is often insufficient to reconstruct complex phenotypes in deep evolutionary time. We review this recent progress and its attendant challenges, and suggest ways forward.