# Molecular genetics of sensory modulation of motor programs

> **NIH NIH R35** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2021 · $569,791

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Neuromodulator and neurotransmitter signaling pathways are critical for brain function and are targeted for the
treatment of diverse neurological and psychiatric disorders. The nervous system of the simple invertebrate
Caenorhabditis elegans is endowed with many of the same neurotransmitters and neuromodulators that are
critical for brain function and whose dysfunction is linked to human disease. We study a C. elegans neural
circuit in which sensory neurons use neuropeptides to modulate serotonin neurons that drive reproductive
behavior and the neurotransmitter glutamate to mediate avoidance behavior. Genetic analysis of the function
of this circuit and its development permits the discovery of molecular mechanisms required in vivo for inhibitory
neuropeptide signaling and excitatory glutamate signaling. Sensory neurons that coordinately regulate
locomotory and reproductive behaviors are activated by carbon dioxide (CO2) evolved by microbial respiration.
This simple circuit, therefore, also offers the opportunity to study mechanisms by which neurons sense
respiratory gases - a critical chemosensory modality that in humans controls breathing rhythms and remains
poorly understood at the molecular level. Our studies of this circuit have yielded genes that are conserved
between invertebrates and humans, and we have discovered functions for these genes in transcriptional
control of gene expression during sensory neuron development, CO2-chemosensing, control of glutamate
release from neurons, and control of neuronal excitability by neuropeptide receptors. Our studies have yielded
more genes that function in these processes and that remain to be characterized, and we expect that this
sensory-motor circuit will continue to serve as a powerful platform for the discovery of genes that function in
neuromodulator and neurotransmitter signaling and that might be eventually be developed as therapeutic
targets.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10246929
- **Project number:** 5R35GM122573-05
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Niels Ringstad
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $569,791
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10246929

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10246929, Molecular genetics of sensory modulation of motor programs (5R35GM122573-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10246929. Licensed CC0.

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