Relevant Genetics Seminar Series talk which will be at 3:00pm on Zoom on Thursday 15th February.Professor Marc Freeman from The Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, USA will be speaking and the title of the talk is, ”Competition for phospholipids drives astrocyte morphogenesis in the CNS”Abstract: Astrocytes play crucial roles in regulating neural circuit function by forming a dense network of synapse-associated membrane specializations, but signaling pathways regulating astrocyte morphogenesis remain poorly defined. We found the Drosophila lipid-binding G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) Tre1 is required for astrocytes to establish their intricate morphology in vivo. The lipid phosphate phosphatases Wunen/Wunen2 also regulate astrocyte morphology and, via Tre1, mediate astrocyte-astrocyte competition for growth-promoting lipids. Loss of s1pr1, the functional analog of Tre1 in zebrafish, disrupts astrocyte process elaboration, and live imaging and pharmacology demonstrate that S1pr1 balances proper astrocyte process extension/retraction dynamics during growth. Loss of Tre1 in flies or S1pr1 in zebrafish results in defects in simple assays of motor behaviour. Tre1 and S1pr1 are thus potent evolutionarily conserved regulators of the elaboration of astrocyte morphological complexity and, ultimately, astrocyte control of behaviour.Host – Cahir O’KaneYou can join this meeting by accessing Zoom:https://zoom.us/j/97819373964?pwd=NHJZRDlVL1A3MWFxWnBUWGVSSFlMdz09Meeting ID: 978 1937 3964Passcode: LtvT1gEK1LThere will be a 45min presentation followed by Q&A via the “raise hand” feature on Zoom. Attendees are asked to join the meeting without video and to keep microphones on mute during the presentation.
Posted on 23/01/2024
