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Resources » Paper

Meghan Jobson et al. (2006) Neuronal Development, Synaptic Function, and Behavior Meeting "Characterization of an Excitatory GABA Receptor"

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    Status:
    Publication type:
    Meeting_abstract
    WormBase ID:
    WBPaper00028230

    Meghan Jobson, Asim Beg, & Erik Jorgensen (2006). Characterization of an Excitatory GABA Receptor presented in Neuronal Development, Synaptic Function, and Behavior Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.

    Ionotropic GABA (gamma;-aminobutyric acid) receptors are GABA-gated chloride channels. The binding of GABA to these receptor results in a chloride current that usually hyperpolarizes the postsynaptic cell. In C. elegans the GABA-gated chloride current mediates behaviors such as locomotion and foraging. More recently it has been found C. elegans also contains a GABA-gated cation channel encoded by exp-1 (Beg and Jorgensen, 2001). EXP-1 is expressed in the enteric muscles and the EXP-1 GABA-gated cation current mediates enteric muscle contraction during defecation. We identified Y46G5A.26 as a possible relative of EXP-1 based on sequence homology. Expression of Y46G5A.26 in Xenopus oocytes results in a GABA-gated cation current, demonstrating that it is an excitatory GABA receptor. Surprisingly, expression of a GFP reporter construct indicates that Y46G5A.26 is expressed in the GABA neurons and not in the targets of GABA neurons as expected. A knockout allele was obtained from the Mitani lab. No gross defects in locomotion, defecation, or foraging were noted. Based on expression in the GABA neurons and lack of a severe phenotype we propose that Y46G5A.26 is acting as an autocrine receptor to upregulate GABA neuron function in C. elegans. We are currently testing this hypothesis by evaluating locomotion and defecation behavior at a closer level using video tracking and high-speed video analysis.


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