PROJECT 4: MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR MECHANISMS FOR THERMAL ROBUSTNESS AND MULTISEN

在自然环境中，一个强大的热感觉反应需要动物集成电路， 温度检测与其他感官形式的电路。所有感觉器官的电路必须 也能在一定温度范围内稳定工作。秀丽线虫提供了一个极好的机会来保护 调节不同温度下电路功能的分子和细胞机制， 整合热敏和非热敏输入的机制。使用新的定量 行为测定、光学神经生理学和线虫中丰富的神经遗传学使我们能够 识别和表征热鲁棒性的分子、神经元和电路决定因素， 多感官整合在导航行为。在这里，我们建议探讨 线虫的热感觉和化学感觉导航行为。主要的温度传感器 神经元（AFD），NaCl感受神经元（ASE）和嗅觉神经元的化学引诱物（AWC）是 突触前神经元（AIY）。因此，多感官整合的机制， 热感觉和化学感觉输入可以位于第一突触中，并且此外， 温度感觉回路，可能在化学感觉的温度依赖性调节中起直接作用。 电路.我们提出的多方面分析将揭示新的热鲁棒性机制， 多感觉整合，其原理可能是高度保守的。

A robust themnosensory response in natural environments requires an animal to integrate circuits for temperature detection with circuits for other sensory modalities. The circuits for all sensory modalities must also work robustly over a range of temperatures. C elegans offers an excellent opportunity to prot)e the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate circuit function across different temperatures as well as mechanisms that integrate thermosensory and non-thermosensory inputs. The use of novel quantitative behavioral assays, optical neurophysiology and the rich neurogenetics available in C elegans allows us to identify and characterize the molecular, neuronal and circuit determinants of thermal robustness and multisensory integration during navigational behavior. Here, we propose to probe the interplay between thermosensory and chemosensory navigational behaviors in C elegans. The principal thermosensory neurons (AFD), NaCI-sensing neurons (ASE), and olfactory neurons for chemoattractants (AWC) are presynaptic to the same interneurons (AIY). Thus, mechanisms for multisensory integration between thermosensory and chemosensory inputs may be located in the first synapse, and moreover, the thermosensory circuit, may play a direct role in temperature-dependent regulation of the chemosensory circuit. Our proposed multifaceted analyses will uncover novel mechanisms of thermal robustness and multisensory integration, principles of which are likely to be highly conserved.