Biophysical and molecular mechanisms of mean and variance adaptation in Drosophila auditory receptor neurons (A10*)

• Subject Area: Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells ; Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2019 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 154113120

Mechanosensory neurons in the Drosophila “ear” receiver perform two mechanistically independent types of adaptation: To the mean and the variance of receiver deflections. We will use genetic tools (RNAi, MiMIC) to manipulate the function of potentially involved molecules (e.g. TRP and ion channels, motor proteins) and readout resulting changes of adaptation in different cellular compartments using two-photon calcium- and voltage-imaging or electrophysiology. A computational model of the transformation from stimulus to spiking output in the fly ear will serve as an analysis tool and as a scaffold to integrate experimental results into a functional model of adaptation.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 889: Cellular Mechanisms of Sensory Processing
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Jan Clemens