HORMONAL MODULATION OF A COMMUNICATION SIGNAL

描述：(改编自《调查者摘要》)扎康博士建议 以弱电鱼类的通信信号为模型系统 阐明离子电流是如何调节的，以及它的意义 对行为的规范。电子器官放电(EOD)是 两性型的，激素敏感的，个体不同的；波形 EOD的大小与膜的性能密切相关，也是膜性能的反映 输出电机系统中的电池数量。调查人员希望了解 发射极中离子电流的大小和动力学-- 细胞--塑造信号，以及它们是如何被调节的。特别是，他们 希望进一步表征延迟整流K电流，了解什么 过程导致了其动力学的系统变化，以及这些变化是如何 可能受性类固醇的调节。他们将测试海流的变化 动力学受磷酸化和/或转录控制的影响 通道(即不同的通道基因，在单个内拼接或编辑 通道基因，或β亚基的表达)。此外，他们还将学习 K和Na电流的大小是如何由秒共同调节的 信使以及这如何导致信号幅度的变化 这些信号幅度的变化可能会影响 这些信号在鱼的环境中被接收的距离。 了解离子通道的功能和调节方式对我们的 可兴奋细胞的基础知识，尤其是离子的故障 经络在多种疾病中的作用日益被人们所认识。

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract) Dr. Zakon proposes to use the communication signal of a weakly electric fish as a model system to elucidate how ion currents are regulated and the significance of this regulation for behavior. The electric organ discharge (EOD) is sexually-dimorphic, hormone-sensitive, and individually-distinct; the waveshape of the EOD is intimately dependent on and reflective of the membrane properties of cells in the output motor system. The investigators wish to understand how the magnitudes and kinetics of the ion currents in the emitter--the electrocytes--shape the signal, and how they are regulated. In particular, they wish to characterize the delayed rectifying K+ current further, understand what processes give rise to the systematic variation in its kinetics, and how these may be regulated by sex steroids. They will test whether variation in current kinetics is influenced by phosphorylation and/or transcriptional control of the channel (i.e. different channel genes, splicing or editing within a single channel gene, or the expression of a beta subunit). In addition they will study how the magnitude of both the K+ and Na+ currents are co-regulated by second messengers and how this results in changes in the amplitude of the signal around the fish; these changes in signal amplitude likely influence the distance over which these signals are received in the fish's environment. Understanding how ion channels function and are regulated is critical to our fundamental knowledge of excitable cells, especially as malfunctions of ion channels are increasingly recognized in a variety of diseases.