Biologie cellulaire et du développement
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Cell Migration Hypothesis of Synesthesia

Alex Sobko

Based on the data-mining of the recent whole-exome studies of sound-color synesthesia, we propose the hypothesis, attempting to explain how rare gene variants identified in several synesthesia-specific genes function differently compared to non-synesthetes. It turned out, that several of those genes encoding integrin, myosin, chemo-repellent and axon guidance receptor, all can be implicated in directional cell migration, or chemotaxis. Two possible mechanisms to account for these findings are proposed: Excessive migration of neural progenitors to the brain cortex areas responsible for synesthetic experience; impaired recruitment of microglia to the synaptic contacts, resulting in the impaired synapse pruning and the formation of excessive contacts between the neurons responsible for synesthesia, such as the neuronal connections between visual and auditory areas of the cortex. More representative genome sequencing and cellular neurobiology studies are needed to investigate our hypothesis in greater detail.