Dissection at single cell-level of the thermotaxis behavioral circuit in C. elegans

神经元从环境中感知信息并将其转化为适应性行为。这个项目将确定在一个易处理的实验生物的简化神经系统中已识别的神经元是如何完成这一壮举的。为了完成这样的转换，神经元必须存储信息。因此，该项目的一个附加目标是研究神经元在形成记忆时的变化。为了提高该项目的社会效益，研究人员将把研究与本科生的教育机会联系起来，特别关注拉丁裔学生。本科生将参与耶鲁大学的研究，并通过针对非专业观众的播客与公众分享他们新获得的知识。播客将通过CienciaPR.org和广播电台传播，特别是在波多黎各，但不限于波多黎各。该项目的总体目标是确定特定神经元和特定突触在将热感觉信息转化为亲热性行为中的作用。这项工作是基于与哈佛大学Aravi Samuel博士实验室的跨学科合作，以及新颖的实验范式，使团队能够研究实验模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫的感觉信号转导。研究小组将通过干扰特定细胞突触中的分子，然后在量化突触破坏对趋热性行为的影响时对神经活动进行成像，从而实现研究目标。预期的结果是对特定突触和单个细胞在处理热感觉信息和出现热趋向性行为中的作用的全面理解。从更广泛的意义上讲，该项目有望揭示细胞间交流的新原理，这些原理在不同的分类群中是保守的，从而促进科学对行为与潜在神经回路之间联系的理解。

Neurons sense information from the environment and transform it into adaptive behaviors. This project will identify how identified neurons in the simplified nervous system of a tractable experimental organism accomplish this feat. To perform such transformations neurons must store information. Thus, a complimentary goal of the project is to study the changes in neurons as they form memories. To enhance the project's societal benefits, the investigators will link the research to educational opportunities for undergraduates, with a particular focus on Latino students. Undergraduate students will participate in the research at Yale University and share their newly acquired knowledge with the public through podcasts targeted for lay-audiences. Podcasts will be transmitted via CienciaPR.org and radio stations, particularly, but not exclusively, in Puerto Rico. The overarching goal of this project is to determine the role of specific neurons and specific synapses in transforming thermal sensory information into thermotaxis behavior. The effort is based on an interdisciplinary collaboration with Dr. Aravi Samuel lab at Harvard University, and novel experimental paradigms that allow the team to investigate sensory signal transduction in the experimental model organism C. elegans. The research team will achieve the study aims by perturbing molecules at synapses in specific cells, and then imaging neural activity as they quantify the effects of synaptic disruption on thermotaxis behaviors. The expected outcome is a comprehensive understanding of the role of specific synapses and single cells in the processing of thermosensory information and the emergence of thermotaxis behavior. In a broader sense, the project is expected to reveal new principles of intercellular communication that are conserved across taxa, thus advancing science's understanding of the link between behaviors and underlying neural circuits.