The glutamate-gated chloride (GluCl) channel family of receptors are members of the ligand-gated ion channel (LGIC) family. In addition to being essential for physiological and behavioural aspects of an organism, they are also exploited as a target for the drug ivermectin. A novel GluCl subunit in C. elegans, GLC-4, was characterized in order to further understand the diversity of GluCls and their implications in biological and behavioural processes. Sequencing of cDNAs generated by RT-PCR indicate that GLC-4 possesses the typical features of a GluCl subunit. In addition, they also suggest possible alternative splicing of glc-4 resulting in a slightly truncated transcript. A glc-4 mutant, glc-4(ok212), was used to investigate the role of GLC-4 in C. elegans ivermectin sensitivity and behaviour. Glc-4(ok212) worms were found to be hypersensitive to low concentrations of ivermectin and experienced a slight hyperreversal behaviour. Genetic, molecular, and electrophysiological evidence is also provided suggesting an interaction between GLC-4 and AVR-14, another GluCl subunit in C. elegans. We hypothesize a direct association between GLC-4 and AVR-14 which together form a heteromeric channel in vivo .
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.79110 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Pellegrino, Mark |
| Contributors | Dent, Joseph (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001986201, proquestno: AAIMQ88279, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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