Investigation Of The Sensory Signaling Pathway Required For Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) Sensation In C. elegans

In order for an organism to interact with its surroundings, it must have the ability to sense and react to its environment. To do this, organisms have a nervous system, which is made up of cells called neurons that communicate through contacts called synapses. The goal of our research is to understand the molecular mechanisms within neurons that mediate sensory signaling and behavioral output. Specifically, we are studying the molecules necessary for the chemosensation of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in the genetic model organism C. elegans. We hypothesize that molecules required for different types of chemosensation will be required for SDS sensation. We are therefore testing molecules within different chemosensory pathways for roles in SDS sensation. To understand the role of these molecules we are using a behavioral assay for SDS response. This assay involves touching an animal on the nose to stimulate backward movement, placing a drop of dilute SDS behind the animal, and then recording the reaction time to SDS vs. a control buffer. Wild-type animals respond to SDS by quickly stopping backward motion. We predict that if a molecule is required for SDS sensation, animals in which the gene is disrupted will continue moving into SDS as if it were a control buffer. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that mediate this process will aid in understanding how animals interact with and respond to their environment.