Dissection of a calcium signaling pathway in C. elegans

钙信号在许多细胞过程中起关键作用，包括造血细胞的增殖和分化、肌肉收缩、肌动蛋白细丝分解和长时程增强。细胞内钙动态的一个重要组成部分是通过肌醇1，4，5-三磷酸受体(IP3Rs)释放细胞内钙。在线虫中，IP3R调节一种行为节律--后体壁肌肉的周期性收缩。肠道以一种非自主的方式控制上覆肌肉的收缩，肠道钙振荡直接先于肌肉收缩。目前尚不清楚IP3R在一个组织(即肠道)中的活动如何调节另一个组织(即肌肉)的活动。本研究旨在揭示线虫中由IP3R功能启动的快速、新颖的信号级联反应的分子和细胞基础。将实现以下目标。特定目标1：钙峰在诱发身体后部收缩中的充分性和必要性特定目标2：确定肠道钙动力学的时空特征。

Calcium signaling plays a key role in many cellular processes including proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells, muscle contraction, actin filament disassembly and long term potentiation. One essential component of intracellular calcium dynamics is release of intracellular calcium stores via inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs). In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), the IP3R regulates a behavioral rhythm - the periodic contraction of the posterior body wall muscles. The intestine controls the contraction of the overlying muscles in a nonautonomous fashion and intestinal calcium oscillations directly precede the muscle contraction. How the activity of the IP3R within one tissue, the intestine, modulates the activity of another tissue, the muscle, is unknown. This proposal aims to uncover the molecular and cellular basis of the fast, novel signaling cascade initiated by IP3R function in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The following Aims will be addressed. Specific Aim 1: Sufficiency and necessity of calcium spike in induction of the posterior body contraction Specific Aim 2: Determination of the spatial and temporal characteristics of calcium dynamics in the intestine Specific Aim 3: Determination of the molecular basis of the signal that directs posterior body contraction . .