Computational connectomics of the cockroach circadian clock

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Madeira cockroach is an established model in chronobiology. The cockroach circadian clock in the brain is innervated by ~240 neuropeptidergic neurons. We characterize the connectivity map of neuropeptidergic circadian clock neurons that control rest/activity (sleep/wake) rhythms and study its plasticity in changing photoperiods. Next to direct synaptic interactions clock neurons connect via neuropeptide signaling. Neuropeptides are abundant in brains of invertebrates and mammals alike. They are suggested to reconfigure widely distributed brain circuits to accommodate genetically encoded physiological-behavioral contexts via mostly unknown mechanisms. In the cockroach clock rhythmic neuropeptid release generates distributed ensembles of synchronously spiking clock neurons in the gamma frequency range, reminiscent of gamma band synchronization in the mammalian brain. We suggest a new hypothesis of neuropeptide function via labeled line-encoding that we want to challenge with neuroanatomical and electrophysiological studies combined with quantitative modelling and innovative data analysis. We form a group of experts from Biology, Neuro-Computation, Physics, Mathematics, and Electrical Engineering to unravel the connectomics of the cockroach clock. Since structure and functions of the cockroach- and the mammalian circadian clocks display striking similarity the study of the much simpler neuronal network in this ancient insect order will promise to provide interesting insights.