QBI International Leaders in Neuroscience Seminar: 'Homeoboxes build the C. elegans nervous system”

Event Details

Date:

Monday, 25 November 2019 - Monday, 25 November 2019

Time:

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Professor Oliver Hobert
Columbia University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York, USA

Title: 'Homeoboxes build the C. elegans nervous system”

Abstract: With just 118 cell types, the nematode C. elegans contains the smallest currently known nervous system. This simplicity should enable a complete understanding of how distinct neuronal cell types are specified and assembled into functional circuitry. Such complete understanding may reveal common themes and organizational principles of neuronal cell type specification that may be conserved across phylogeny. I will describe my laboratory’s efforts in attaining such a complete understanding. We have used molecular maps of gene expression throughout the nervous system to uncover scores of regulatory factors (called terminal selectors) that specify the unique identity of individual neuron types. Currently, terminal selectors have been identified for almost 90 of the 118 distinct neuron classes. Two emerging themes are the preponderance of homeobox genes in specifying neuronal identity and the association of homeobox gene expression with neuronal circuitry. I will propose potential implications of these findings for the evolution of nervous systems.