Molecular Assembly of a Giant Synapse in Drosophila

果蝇巨型突触的分子组装

• 批准号: 9904957
• 负责人: Rodney Murphey
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-01 至 2002-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9904957&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Molecular; Assembly; Giant; Synapse; Drosophila

The brain depends for its normal function on the specialized functional connections called synapses between nerve cells. These highly specialized structures have a great variety of sizes and ultrastructural features of their membranes, and can utilize a variety of molecules as neurotransmitters to carry information from one cell to another. This project uses as a model system a particular giant synapse in a visual-motor pathway, between a giant fiber and a motor neuron that is found in the central nervous system of the fruitfly, Drosophila; this organism also has a very well understood genetic background. Physiological, anatomical, and molecular tools, along with mutations and transgenic approaches, will be used to examine the molecular basis for the assembly of this giant synapse during development. The particular interest is in a molecular signal within the giant fiber that is carried back up the fiber to the cell nucleus, to regulate the formation of synaptic specializations. Results will be important for developmental biology as well as neuroscience, and the project will also train undergraduate and graduate students in neuroscience.

大脑的正常功能依赖于神经细胞之间称为突触的特殊功能连接。这些高度专业化的结构具有其膜的各种大小和超微结构特征，并可以利用各种分子作为神经递质将信息从一个细胞传递到另一个细胞。这个项目使用视觉-运动通路中一种特殊的巨大突触作为模型系统，这种突触位于果蝇中枢神经系统中的巨大纤维和运动神经元之间；这种生物也有非常好的遗传背景。生理学、解剖学和分子工具，以及突变和转基因方法，将被用来检查这个巨大突触在发育过程中组装的分子基础。人们特别感兴趣的是巨型纤维内的分子信号，该信号被带回纤维到细胞核，以调节突触专门化的形成。研究结果对发育生物学和神经科学都很重要，该项目还将培养神经科学方面的本科生和研究生。