Christopher J Martyniuk
Christopher J Martyniuk co-authored work from Michael Levin's group on how membrane voltage links to gene expression and to immunity. One study compared transcriptional responses to depolarization across frog, axolotl and human cells12. Later studies tested how resting potential affects infection survival in Xenopus45, and how the developing brain regulates innate immunity6.
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- 3 works, named in 11 passages elsewhere
Voltage and gene expression
The 2016 genome-wide study began from a stated gap: the evolutionary conservation of the signaling pathways downstream of bioelectric change had not been fully described1. They reasoned that pathways shared across species and process types were the ones most probably affected by depolarization, and said further work must verify the role of voltage2. Silver and Nelson later summarized the result as conserved gene networks across the three systems3. They noted it came from a single time point.
Resting potential and immunity
In Xenopus laevis embryos, Paré, Martyniuk and Levin tested how resting potential affects survival after infection. Genetic hyperpolarization, by potassium channels or a proton pump, lowered survival. The authors took this to reflect the general hyperpolarized state, not the effect of any one cation4. A dominant negative serotonin transporter reduced or nullified the extra resistance to infection that depolarization gave. With fluoxetine results, this indicated a serotonin-mediated pathway5. In 2020, a brainless Xenopus model was used to argue that the brain regulates early innate immunity6.
Use by later authors
Levin and Martyniuk's 2018 review is cited by later authors for general claims about bioelectricity. Pio-Lopez and colleagues cite it for the point that ion channels, electrical synapses and neurotransmitter signaling are ancient and implicated in the control of growth and form7. Other texts held here cite it on developmental bioelectricity and on the difficulty of predicting tissue voltage patterns without computational models. The passages show no author disputing the work attributed to Martyniuk.
Moreover, while bioelectricity has been investigated in many phyla, the evolutionary conservation of downstream signaling pathways has not been fully described.
Pai VP, Martyniuk CJ, Echeverri K, Sundelacruz S, Kaplan…, 2016 · Genome-wide analysis reveals conserved transcriptional responses downstream of… · open at passage 4we reasoned that common pathways identified in the comparison (across species and across process type) represent those cell signaling pathways and processes most probably affected following membrane depolarization.
Pai VP, Martyniuk CJ, Echeverri K, Sundelacruz S, Kaplan…, 2016 · Genome-wide analysis reveals conserved transcriptional responses downstream of… · open at passage 12microarray analysis has revealed conserved gene networks regulated by Vm depolarization (Pai et al., 2015b) across three different processes and species (embryogenesis in Xenopus; spinal cord regeneration in axolotl; and human cells in culture).
Silver BB, Nelson CM, 2018 · The Bioelectric Code: Reprogramming Cancer and Aging From the Interface of… · open at passage 19suggesting that the effect of genetic hyperpolarization was due to the general hyperpolarized state of the embryos, and not specific effects of individual cation types
Paré JF, Martyniuk CJ, Levin M, 2017 · Bioelectric regulation of innate immune system function in regenerating and… · open at passage 12Together with the results obtained with fluoxetine treatments, these data confirm that a signaling pathway mediated by serotonin modulates
Paré JF, Martyniuk CJ, Levin M, 2017 · Bioelectric regulation of innate immune system function in regenerating and… · open at passage 19Here, we use this brainless vertebrate model, with intact spinal cord and peripheral innervation, to demonstrate an unknown role of the brain: regulating the early innate immunity in the presence or absence of infection.
Herrera-Rincon C, Paré JF, Martyniuk CJ, Jannetty SK…, 2020 · An in vivo brain-bacteria interface: the developing brain as a key regulator of… · open at passage 4all of the machinery used in the central nervous system (CNS) to support adaptive functions (ion channels, electrical synapses, neurotransmitter signaling, etc.) is ancient, and is implicated in the control of growth and form (Levin and Martyniuk, 2018)
Pio-Lopez L, Kuchling F, Tung A, Pezzulo G, Levin M, 2022 · Active inference, morphogenesis, and computational psychiatry · open at passage 3
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