Modulation of C. elegans Locomotor Behavior

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

Across the animal kingdom, males and females exhibit differences in behavior. Recently, it has become clear that the chromosomal sex of the brain itself (XX or XY) is an important factor in modulating its development and function. Yet very little is known about the process by which genes "tune" the properties of neural circuits to influence behavior. This project focuses on sex differences in the function of the nervous system of a simple invertebrate, the nematode roundworm C. elegans. These tiny worms (each is about the size of a speck of dust) come in two sexes, hermaphrodites (which in C. elegans are slightly modified females) and males. In both sexes, the structure of the nervous system is simple and very well characterized: hermaphrodites have exactly 302 neurons, while males have 383. Of these, both sexes share a so-called "core" set of 294 neurons that control behaviors exhibited by both sexes, including locomotion (movement). Though both sexes move with a characteristic wave-shaped crawl along a moist surface, our laboratory has found that males and hermaphrodites do so differently: males move more quickly and the bends of their bodies are sharper than those of hermaphrodites. This project will use a genetic approach to understand exactly how the function of locomotor circuitry differs between the sex. This project will identify the specific components of this circuitry that are modulated by sex, and to discover how sex chromosomes bring about differences in these components. These results will contribute to a better understanding of the ways in which genes and environment can act in the nervous system to influence its function. In addition, this project will provide intensive research training in advanced neuroscience and genetics for three graduate students and four undergraduates at the University of Rochester.