The Role of Axonal Transport Machinery in Signal Transduction

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)." Neurons transmit electrical information through long axons to distant parts of the brain and body. The cell bodies of neurons must also receive information from their targets, however very little is known about how this "retrograde" information is transmitted. Microtubule based axonal transport machinery, comprised of kinesin and dynein motor proteins, plays a critical role in axonal signaling pathways. The goal of this study is to identify how different signaling molecules are carried by motor proteins in axons. It will compare the mechanisms for two different axonal signaling pathways that function within the same neuron. It takes advantage of powerful genetics in Drosophila and the simple anatomy of the larval motoneuron, which allows observation of both signal transduction and axonal transport within a single cell in a living animal. The results should identify molecules and interactions that function in the thus far poorly understood process of retrograde signaling, a process that is important for the formation of neuronal circuits during development and their modification during learning and memory. This project will support the training of one graduate student and two undergraduate students, and has an outreach component that exposes girls in middle school to genetics, microscopy, and contemporary questions in the field of neurodevelopment.