Collaborative Research: RUI: Molecular mechanisms and physiological triggers underlying neuromodulator plasticity in a lobster pattern generator

这个项目的首要目标是理解行为变化背后的过程。具体来说，该项目将重点关注神经网络对一种激素产生控制节律运动的活动的反应的可变性。这个项目将利用龙虾心脏神经肌肉系统，一个简单的模型来理解这种现象。在这个系统中，一些心脏对激素allatostatin-C的反应是增加收缩力，而另一些则是减少收缩力。该项目是多学科的，使用生理，分子和生化方法。实验将包括记录龙虾在暴露于激素时心脏活动的变化，使用分子生物学技术确定导致不同动物对激素的不同反应的基因，并分析心脏内的蛋白质，以确定对激素有不同反应的动物之间的差异。这个项目是鲍登学院（不伦瑞克，缅因州）和夏威夷大学马诺阿分校（檀香山）的研究人员之间的合作。它将在这两所大学培养本科生，包括代表性不足的少数民族学生，学习各种各样的化学、分子和生理技术。它将提供跨学科的培训，并将向本科生介绍从多个角度审视科学问题的重要性。该项目的分子组成部分还将为其他科学家提供资源，以解决龙虾生物学中的其他问题，包括壳病的起源和生理后果。为了确定神经元网络对调制器反应的可变性背后的机制和触发因素，该项目将研究一个简单的模式生成器，龙虾心脏神经节。该项目将结合转录组学和生理学来寻找与肽激素allatostatin-C的不同反应相关的基因表达差异。同时，该项目将询问这些差异是否可能是由与蜕皮周期相关的变化引发的。该项目将使用Illumina测序技术，从龙虾组织中重新组装转录组。这些转录组将为绘制生理实验中对allatostatin-C有不同反应的龙虾的RNA-Seq数据提供参考，以确定基因表达的变化。调查将针对特定基因，并将使用全基因组评估来寻找其他变化。该项目还将使用质谱法来确定龙虾心脏中特定的蛋白质是否表现出不同的翻译后修饰，从而对神经肽产生不同的反应。

The overarching goal of this project is to understand the processes that underlie variability in behavior. Specifically, the project will focus on variability in the responses of neuronal networks generating the activity that controls rhythmic movements to one hormone. This project will utilize the lobster cardiac neuromuscular system, a simple model for understanding this phenomenon. In this system, some hearts respond to the hormone allatostatin-C with increased contraction force, while others respond by decreasing contraction force. The project is multi-disciplinary, using physiological, molecular and biochemical approaches. Experiments will include recording changes in activity of the lobster heart when exposed to the hormone, using molecular biological techniques to determine the genes that contribute to the differential responses to the hormone in different animals, and analyzing proteins within the heart to determine how they differ among animals that respond differently to the hormone. This project is a collaboration between researchers at Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine) and the University of Hawaii at Manoa (Honolulu). It will train undergraduates, including underrepresented minority students, at both institutions in a wide variety of chemical, molecular and physiological techniques. It will provide interdisciplinary training and will introduce undergraduates to the importance of examining scientific questions from multiple perspectives. The molecular components of the project will also provide resources that can be used by other scientists to address additional issues in lobster biology, including the origin and physiological consequences of shell disease.To determine the mechanisms and triggers that underlie the variability in the responses of neuronal networks to modulators, this project will examine a simple pattern generator, the lobster cardiac ganglion. This project will combine transcriptomics and physiology to look for differences in gene expression that correlate with differential responses to the peptide hormone, allatostatin-C. At the same time, the project will ask whether these differences may be triggered by changes related to the molt cycle. The project, which will use Illumina sequencing, will assemble de novo transcriptomes from lobster tissues. These transcriptomes will provide references onto which RNA-Seq data from lobsters that respond differentially to allatostatin-C in physiological experiments will be mapped to determine changes in gene expression. The investigation will target specific genes and will use a genome-wide assessment to look for additional changes. The project will also use mass spectrometry to ask whether specific proteins show different post-translational modifications in lobster hearts that respond differentially to the neuropeptide.