We sought to investigate if the scale of electrical synaptic specificity seen in the C.
elegans nervous system could be explained through a model whereby gap junction formation between neighbors is restricted by the identity of expressed innexins.
Reconstruction of the C.
elegans nervous system by EM serial section showed that 92 of 104 motor neuron classes establish gap junctions [13].
By exploiting the simplicity of the C.
elegans nervous system, Bargmann has identified fundamental principles of neural circuit logic.
Approximately 10 % of Caenorhabditis
elegans nervous system synapses are electrical, that is, gap junctions composed of innexins.
Not exact matches
As California Institute of Technology neuroscientist Christof Koch noted in narrating the wiring diagram of the entire
nervous system of Caenorhabditis
elegans, we are clueless in understanding how this simple roundworm «thinks,» much less in explicating (and reproducing in a computer) a human mind billions of times more complex.
C.
elegans is a microscopic worm that like humans highly expresses a family of proteins in the
nervous system called ADARs — adenosine deaminases that act on RNA — a family that includes ADR - 1.
Her experiments were conducted on C.
elegans roundworms, whose short lifespans and well - characterized
nervous systems make them a preferred species for quick - turnaround lab studies.
Allyson Whittaker and Paul Sternberg of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, study the
nervous control of mating behaviour in the nematode Caenorhabditis
elegans.
A study of the development of the
nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis
elegans by Neda Masoudi, Oliver Hobert and colleagues reveals a novel function for a member of the basic helix - loop - helix family of transcription factors in controlling terminal neuron differentiation (rather than initial commitment to a neural fate).
Bargmann will split her presentation between her work at CZI and her own research at Rockefeller University in New York, where she studies C.
elegans to unravel the mysteries of
nervous system signaling and behavior.
The researchers first discovered ascarosides as a signaling molecule in C.
elegans, a nematode used as a model organism to study cell, developmental and
nervous system biology, as well as human aging and diabetes.
Using C.
elegans as a model, Bargmann's laboratory characterizes genes and neural pathways that allow the
nervous system to generate flexible behaviors.
The broad conservation of neurohormonal signaling pathways between mammalian systems and C.
elegans such as insulin - like signaling, serotonin, etc., validates studying the cell non-autonomous control of protein homeostasis by the
nervous system of C.
elegans to instruct our understanding of age - related human disease.
In G3: Genes Genomes Genetics, Nordquist et al. used Caenorhabditis
elegans to systematically investigate the function of these genes and identified some that could play previously overlooked roles in
nervous system function.
Ten C.
elegans orthologs, when mutated, impaired the worms» locomotion and
nervous system.
Approximately 600 electrical synapses and 5,000 chemical synapses were described in the reconstruction of the C.
elegans non-pharyngeal
nervous system [13].
Because C.
elegans has a simple
nervous system and can be genetically manipulated quickly, the authors were able to screen dozens of genes — many more than were practical in previous studies using mice.
Innexins UNC - 7 and UNC - 9 contribute to a large number of electrical synapses in the C.
elegans locomotory
nervous system.