Translational Control of Olfactory Adaptation in C. Elegans

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

Neuronal plasticity is the term for mechanisms underlying functional changes in the brain that result from experience, such as sensory adaptation and learning. These mechanisms include changes at specific synapses, which are the functional connections between nerve cells. At the subcellular level, these changes can include changes in synaptic molecular receptors, synaptic architecture, and changes in activity of enzymes such as kinases and phosphatases, presumably driven by changes in gene expression. An unsolved mystery is how one synapse can be specifically altered while others of the same neuron remain unchanged. The roundworm C. elegans is a genetically tractable and anatomically simple animal that has become well established for examining molecular mechanisms of neural function. It uses its sense of smell to locate food, and to make that discrimination it must adapt to and ignore other odors present that are not associated with food. Recent data from C. elegans suggest that there is a potential link between activity of a membrane channel and control over mRNA translation, related to olfactory adaptation by down-regulating neuronal response to odors after odor exposure. This project uses molecular and genetic approaches to see how this linkage may underlie olfactory adaptation, and provide a novel molecular mechanism for neuronal plasticity. Results will have impact across all neuroscience, and in particular to learning and memory, if a link is discovered between ligand-binding channel proteins and intracellular protein translation that would allow a direct effect of extracellular events on gene expression. This project also will help establish the career of a young woman scientist, as well as promote graduate training.