Investigating a Locomotor Neuron that Makes a Potential Sensory Cilium Lying over the C. elegans Egg-laying Apparatus, Designing an Accessible System for Neuron Identifications, and Advancing Imaging and Modeling in the Egg-laying System

Author

Nakeirah TM Christie, Yale University Graduate School of Arts and SciencesFollow

Date of Award

Fall 2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Koelle, Michael

Abstract

The neural circuit for Caenorhabditis elegans egg laying has been studied intensively for decades, yet its known components cannot account for how egg laying and locomotion behaviors are coordinated. In my graduate work within the Koelle lab, I worked to further complete that model circuit. The first half of this dissertation covers my work on the PVP neurons. I discovered that the PVP neuron pair, which has previously been implicated in locomotion, makes previously-undescribed branches that terminate in large wing-shaped endings directly over the egg-laying apparatus. The PVP wing structures occur only in hermaphrodites and develop during the L4 larval stage when the egg-laying system also develops. The PVP wing is located at the junction between the uterus and the vulva, adjacent to neurons that control egg laying, and is surrounded by cells that express a glial marker. This latter result suggests that the PVP structure may be cilia; however, the structures are not absent as other cilia are in cilialess mutants. Moreover, the sensitivity of the PVPs to expression of transgenes prevented recording or manipulating PVP activity to determine its functional roles. The second half of this dissertation describes microscopy, data analysis, and modeling work that significantly contributed to several additional projects in the Koelle lab, including the use of a new tool to identify individual neurons and better models to communicate expression data of GPCRS.

Recommended Citation

Christie, Nakeirah TM, "Investigating a Locomotor Neuron that Makes a Potential Sensory Cilium Lying over the C. elegans Egg-laying Apparatus, Designing an Accessible System for Neuron Identifications, and Advancing Imaging and Modeling in the Egg-laying System" (2022). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 769.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/769