# Gene regulatory mechanisms underlying temperature-dependent neuronal plasticity

> **NIH NIH F32** · BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $65,310

## Abstract

In order to survive, animals must modify their behavior as they encounter new environmental conditions. To
achieve this, the nervous system integrates complex external stimuli and modifies its activity appropriately.
Ultimately, plasticity at the level of single neurons enables these changes, and in many cases neuronal and
behavioral plasticity is long-lasting. Changes in gene expression have been shown to underlie many forms
of long-term plasticity, and disruption of these expression changes and their upstream regulators are
associated with neurological disease. Here I propose to take advantage of temperature-dependent neuronal
and behavioral plasticity in C. elegans, phenomena that are biologically relevant, easily manipulated, and
quantifiable, in order to interrogate the gene expression changes and gene regulatory mechanisms
underlying plasticity in vivo. Our lab and others have characterized plasticity of temperature preference
behavior in C. elegans. We have established that modulation of the physiology of the single thermosensory
neuron pair AFD contributes to behavioral plasticity. We have identified receptor-type guanylyl cyclases as
likely thermosensory genes acting in AFD and shown that they are regulated by temperature at the level of
transcription. In this proposal I use this single cell plasticity paradigm as an avenue to conduct detailed
analyses of gene regulatory systems driving neuronal plasticity and to connect them to animal behavior.
First, I describe experiments to identify genome-wide the genes that are differentially expressed in AFD and
mediate the dynamic progression of plasticity. Then, I outline a strategy to uncover the molecular regulatory
principles that control expression of thermosensory rGCs during temperature-induced plasticity. My
proposed project will describe in great detail the gene regulatory pathways driving neuronal plasticity in vivo
and link them to behavior. This work will define the relationships among an environmental input, stimulus-
induced gene expression, and neuronal plasticity that enables accurate transformation of neuronal output
and behavior. Additionally, characterization of gene regulatory pathways that dynamically and precisely
control neuronal plasticity may help to explain how they can fail in the context of neurological disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984159
- **Project number:** 5F32NS112453-02
- **Recipient organization:** BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** NATHAN Christopher Stephenson HARRIS
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $65,310
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984159

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984159, Gene regulatory mechanisms underlying temperature-dependent neuronal plasticity (5F32NS112453-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984159. Licensed CC0.

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