Analysis of the Nan channel homologue from the crab Carcinus maenas and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
- Paper number
IAC-05-A1.P.09
- Author
Dr. Roberto Araujo, University of Aberdeen, United States
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The Nan channel was recently cloned in Drosophila and was found to be involved in the balancing mechanisms of the flies. It is a member of the TRP (transient receptor potential) superfamily of ion channels. Crabs, on the other hand, have the ability to sense small changes in hydrostatic pressure associated with the tidal ebb and flow but have no identified molecular agent for it. Central to this ability are believed to be pressure-sensing channels (mechanotransducing channels) located in the statocysts of the crab, which are connected to the central nervous system by identified bipolar neurones. Extracellular recordings from the crab balancing organ, the statocyst, have shown that when in zero gravity crabs placed on a motor-driven tilting plate behaved with quiescent indifference and did not react at all during the 1.8 G phases that flank the 25 seconds of microgravity. Nevertheless, their equilibrium interneurones showed large changes in response during these phases. This raised important questions about the exact mechanisms used by crabs to balance. Structurally this system is analogous to humans semicircular canals and therefore constitutes a powerful model organisms to study balance disorders and syndromes associated with extended periods in microgravity, e.g. Space Adaptation Syndrome. Due to the lack of information on the crab genome, and before the creation of a crab cDNA library, the study of Nan-related genes is of utmost interest to understand the biochemical aspects involved. Caenorhabditis elegans has an osmotic avoidance related gene, ocr-4, which shows a 47
- Abstract document