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Resources » Paper

Anusha Narayan et al. (2007) International Worm Meeting "Transfer at C. elegans synapses."

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    Publication type:
    Meeting_abstract
    WormBase ID:
    WBPaper00030149

    Anusha Narayan, Tod Thiele, Shawn Lockery, Gilles Laurent, & Paul Sternberg (2007). Transfer at C. elegans synapses presented in International Worm Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.

    Neural circuits in C. elegans have been studied using light and electron microscopic techniques, focal laser ablations and, more recently, calcium imaging techniques. For a clearer functional understanding of these circuits, however, some knowledge of the rules of synaptic information transfer is required. How is the dynamic range of the post-synaptic neuron set? What are the mechanisms for synaptic integration and gain control? Questions such as these can best be answered by monitoring or controlling connected pre- and post-synaptic neurons simultaneously. We chose to focus on the synapses between the AFD/ASER and AIY neurons, since the functional relevance of these neurons has been established and there is anatomical evidence for synapses between them. Channelrhodopsin-2 (chR2) is a light activated cation channel with fast kinetics (order of milliseconds1). We express chR2 under a neuron-specific promoter2 in the presynaptic neuron, and use whole-cell patch-clamp recording techniques to monitor membrane voltage or currents in the postsynaptic neuron. We are first calibrating the response to light of chR2-expressing neurons. Currently, we are calibrating this light response in worms expressing chR2 in ASER. We have observed depolarizations of 10-30 mV in response to light (450-490 nm) in current clamp, and inward currents of 5-10 pA in voltage-clamp. We have also seen evidence of spontaneous synaptic activity, in the form of discrete synaptic events (potentials or currents) with different reversal potentials (some depolarizing, others Cl-dependent). We are beginning to characterize the ASER-AIY synapse, and will then move on to the AFD-AIY synapse. References 1. Boyden ES, Zhang F, Bamberg E, Nagel G, Deisseroth K. Millisecond-timescale, genetically targeted optical control of neural activity, Nat. Neurosci. 8 (2005), pp. 1263-1268. 2. Nagel G, Brauner M, Liewald JF, Adeishvili N, Bamberg E, Gottschalk A. Light activation of channelrhodopsin-2 in excitable cells of Caenorhabditis elegans triggers rapid behavioral responses. Curr. Biol. 15 (2005), pp. 2279-2284.


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