Construction of C. elegans Strains Deficient in Multiple Neurotransmitters

Student Presenter(s): Kinza Ahmed, Jenson John, Gaetana Iannelli
Faculty Mentor: Navin Pokala
Department: Life Sciences
School/College: College of Arts and Sciences, Long Island

The human brain has over 80 billion neurons, with staggeringly complex connectivity. In contrast, the nervous system of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans has 300 neurons, and has been completely mapped anatomically. However, there is still much more work that needs to be done in order to understand how the nervous system generates behavior. Glutamate, GABA, and acetylcholine are the three primary neurotransmitters used by all animals. We have obtained mutant C. elegans strains that lack each of these individually. We are crossing these mutant strains to each other to construct strains deficient for various combinations of these neurotransmitters. Strains that lack multiple neurotransmitters will help us better understand the interaction between these important molecules, and how they interact to contribute to locomotion and behavior.