NIH VideoCast - Genetic Dissection of a Dynamic C. Elegans Synapse

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Genetic Dissection of a Dynamic C. Elegans Synapse

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Air date:	Monday, January 11, 2010, 12:00:00 PM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 150 * This only includes stats from October 2011 and forward.
Category:	Neuroscience
Runtime:	00:52:51
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	Work in Dr. Kaplan's lab is focused on understanding how signals in the brain lead to particular patterns of behavior. They utilize a combination of behavioral, genetic, biochemical, imaging, and electrophysiological techniques to study signaling in the brain of the worm C. elegans. Signals in the brain occur at specialized intercellular connections, known as synapses. There is a surprising amount of diversity in the structural and functional characteristics of synapses. Some synapses are large, others are small. Some are strong others are weak. Very little is known about the molecular differences that underlie this diversity in synaptic function. Their goal is to define the cell biological mechanisms by which synapses are made different from each other. Dr. Kaplan's lab showed that two G proteins (Go and Gq) antagonistically regulate neurotransmitter release at a particular set of C. elegans synapses, and that these G proteins directly regulate several aspects of synaptic vesicle recycling. Current projects aim to identify downstream targets of these G proteins, and to determine the mechanisms by which they act. The brain is an exceedingly complex circuit that somehow maintains the specificity of connections made between cells and of the signals transmitted at these connections. They have developed methods for visualizing individual synapses in living worms. Using these methods, they identified several genes that regulate synapse formation, targeting of receptors to synapses, and the abundance of receptors at each synapse. NIH Neuroscience Seminar Series

NLM Title:	Genetic dissection of a dynamic C. elegans synapse / Joshua Kaplan.
Author:	Kaplan, Joshua. National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): Work in Dr. Kaplan's lab is focused on understanding how signals in the brain lead to particular patterns of behavior. They utilize a combination of behavioral, genetic, biochemical, imaging, and electrophysiological techniques to study signaling in the brain of the worm C. elegans. Signals in the brain occur at specialized intercellular connections, known as synapses. There is a surprising amount of diversity in the structural and functional characteristics of synapses. Some synapses are large, others are small. Some are strong others are weak. Very little is known about the molecular differences that underlie this diversity in synaptic function. Their goal is to define the cell biological mechanisms by which synapses are made different from each other. Dr. Kaplan's lab showed that two G proteins (Go and Gq) antagonistically regulate neurotransmitter release at a particular set of C. elegans synapses, and that these G proteins directly regulate several aspects of synaptic vesicle recycling. Current projects aim to identify downstream targets of these G proteins, and to determine the mechanisms by which they act. The brain is an exceedingly complex circuit that somehow maintains the specificity of connections made between cells and of the signals transmitted at these connections. They have developed methods for visualizing individual synapses in living worms. Using these methods, they identified several genes that regulate synapse formation, targeting of receptors to synapses, and the abundance of receptors at each synapse.
Subjects:	Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins--genetics Caenorhabditis elegans Synapses--genetics Synapses--ultrastructure
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast
NLM Classification:	WL 102.8
NLM ID:	101524376
CIT Live ID:	8298
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=8298

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