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Emerging Technologies in the Analysis of C. elegans Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

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Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Technologies

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 117))

Abstract

Genetic studies in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans have made valuable contributions to continuing advances in our understanding of cholinergic synapse biology and cholinergic transmission. C. elegans possesses a large and diverse family of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits that share significant sequence similarity with vertebrate nAChR subunits. As is the case for vertebrates, C. elegans nAChR subtypes mediate excitatory synaptic responses to ACh release at the neuromuscular junction and are also widely expressed in the nervous system. Detailed knowledge of C. elegans neural connectivity patterns (wiring diagram), coupled with the ease of genetic manipulations in this system, enables high-resolution investigations into functional roles for specific receptor subtypes in the context of anatomically defined circuits. In this chapter, we review methods for the analysis of C. elegans nAChRs with an emphasis on strategies for identifying and characterizing genes involved in their biological regulation in the nervous system. These methods can be easily adapted to the study of other organisms as well as other receptor classes.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Raja Bhattacharya for critical reading of the manuscript. Our work is supported by NIH R01NS064263 and NIH R21NS093492 to MMF. AP is supported by NIH predoctoral NRSA F31DA038399.

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  1. Department of Neurobiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 715 LRB Neurobiology, 364 Plantation St., Worcester, MA, 01605, USA

    Alison Philbrook & Michael M. Francis

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  1. Alison Philbrook
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  2. Michael M. Francis
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Correspondence to Michael M. Francis .

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  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

    Ming D. Li

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Philbrook, A., Francis, M.M. (2016). Emerging Technologies in the Analysis of C. elegans Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors. In: Li, M. (eds) Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Technologies. Neuromethods, vol 117. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3768-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3768-4_5

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