Neural and genetic mechanisms underlying behavior in C. elegans

线虫行为背后的神经和遗传机制

基本信息

批准号：
10174947
负责人：
Shawn Xu
金额：
$ 39万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2018-06-01 至 2023-05-31
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

Project Summary The long-term goal of our research is to understand how the sensory environment regulates animal behavior. In the next five years, we propose to investigate the neural and genetic basis of two types of sensory modalities: thermosensation and chemosensation. Thermosensation and chemosensation are critical for the quality and survival of all forms of life ranging from bacteria to humans. To survive and thrive, animals and humans have evolved thermosensory and chemosensory systems to detect, respond, and adapt to temperature and chemicals in the environment. Defects in thermal and chemical perception lead to neurological and metabolic disorders. Nevertheless, our understanding of the mechanisms underlying thermosensation and chemosensation is far from complete. For example, though research in the past two decades has led to an increasingly clear understanding of how animals sense heat, which reveals a remarkable conservation in the mechanisms of thermosensation, much less is known about how animals sense cold temperatures. Similarly, in the case of pH sensation, a type of chemosensation, though acid sensation has been extensively characterized, we know very little about how animals sense alkali in the environment. Here, we will investigate the neural and genetic mechanisms underlying cold sensation and alkaline sensation in C. elegans, a powerful genetic organism widely used for the study sensory perception. To do so, we will use a multidisciplinary approach combining behavioral, genetic, calcium imaging, and electrophysiological analyses. As thermosensory and chemosensory mechanisms particularly those involving sensory channels/receptors tend to be evolutionarily conserved, our work will provide novel insights into the mechanisms underlying these sensory modalities in mammals and related neurological and metabolic disorders.

项目摘要我们研究的长期目标是了解感觉环境如何调节动物行为。在接下来的五年中，我们建议研究两种感觉的神经和遗传基础方式：热增敏和化学效应。热敏度和化学一致化至关重要从细菌到人类的各种生活形式的质量和生存。为了生存和壮成长，动物和人类已经进化了热感应和化学感应系统，以检测，响应和适应环境中的温度和化学物质。热和化学感知的缺陷导致神经和代谢疾病。然而，我们对基本机制的理解热敏度和化学效应远非完整。例如，尽管过去两个研究几十年来，人们对动物的感受越来越清楚地了解，这揭示了一个在热效率机理中的明显保护，关于动物的方式知之甚少感觉冷温。同样，在pH感觉的情况下，一种化学敏的类型，尽管酸感觉已经广泛地表征了，我们对动物的感觉很少了解环境。在这里，我们将研究感冒感觉的背后的神经和遗传机制，秀丽隐杆线虫中的碱性，这是一种强大的遗传生物，广泛用于研究感官感知。到这样做，我们将使用一种组合行为，遗传，钙成像和的多学科方法电生理分析。作为热感应和化学感应机制，尤其是涉及的机制感官通道/受体往往在进化上保守，我们的工作将为您提供新的见解这些感觉方式以及相关神经和代谢的机制疾病。