Prof. Dr. Deniz Top
Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Titel: Anatomically restricted regulatory mechanisms converge on circadian genes to govern behaviour
Zeit: 15:00 Uhr s.t.,
Ort: TWINCORE Seminar room 0.03
Ansprechpartner: Prof. asoc. inv. Dr. Gisa Gerold<link mail internal link in current>
Abstract
Understanding mechanisms that underlie behaviour is one of the biggest challenges in biology. Circadian behaviour is an ideal model behaviour for study, since most of the genes involved have been identified. As in all animals, neurons that house circadian genes regulate rhythmic behaviour in Drosophila. Currently, it is unclear how mutation of a circadian gene leads to changes in some aspects of rhythmic behaviour, but not others. To resolve this conflict, we propose that the circadian genes in each neuronal cluster are differently regulated. This overturns the assumption that behaviour genes function similarly in all neurons. Understanding these local differences will help uncover how behaviour is regulated at the molecular level.