Spatial gradients in the initiation and termination of basic processes, such as cytogenesis, cell-type specification and dendritic maturation, are ubiquitous in developing nervous systems. Such gradients can produce a niche adaptation in a particular species. For example, the high density of photoreceptors and neurons in the ‘area centralis' of some vertebrate retinas result from the early maturation of its center relative to its periphery. Across species, regularities in allometric scaling of brain regions can derive from conserved spatial gradients: longer neurogenesis in the alar versus the basal plate of the neural tube is associated with relatively greater expansion of alar plate derivatives in larger brains. We describe gradients of neurogenesis within the isocortex and their effects on adult cytoarchitecture within and across species. Longer duration of neurogenesis in the caudal isocortex is associated with increased neuron number and density per column relative to the rostral isocortex. Later-maturing features of single neurons, such as soma size and dendritic spine numbers reflect this gradient. Considering rodents and primates, the longer the duration of isocortical neurogenesis in each species, the greater the rostral-to-caudal difference in neuron number and density per column. Extended developmental duration produces substantial, predictable changes in the architecture of the isocortex in larger brains, and presumably a progressively changed functional organization, the properties of which we do not yet fully understand. Many features of isocortical architecture previously viewed as species- or niche-specific adaptations can now be integrated as the natural outcomes of spatiotemporal gradients that are deployed in larger brains.

Keywords:
Evolution, Cortex, Primate, Neurogenesis
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