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Acetylcholine receptor molecules of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

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Comparative Molecular Neurobiology

Part of the book series: EXS ((EXS,volume 63))

Summary

Receptors for acetylcholine are present in nematodes. Studies using physiological and biochemical methods have revealed the existence of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors with a novel pharmacology. Caenorhabditis elegans provides a particularly suitable organism with which to investigate such receptors using molecular genetic approaches. Mutants resistant to the cholinergic agonist (and anthelmintic drug) levamisole have permitted the isolation of a number of genes, including structural subunits of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. The only known viable mutants of nicotinic receptors are those of Caenorhabditis elegans. This organism offers the prospect of studying the developmental and regulatory effects of the loss of a single component of the receptor. Using Caenorhabditis elegans it is possible to select interesting phenotypic mutations by in vivo mutagenesis before determining the causative lesion. Resistance genes other than those encoding structural subunits are of particular interest, as they will encode additional polypeptides closely associated with nicotinic receptor function. Such proteins are often difficult or impossible to identify using conventional biochemical approaches, whereas genetic selection should permit their identification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AFRC Laboratory of Molecular Signalling, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, England

    C. Tornoe, H. A. Riina, J. Coadwell & D. B. Sattelle

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, MRC Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, England

    J. T. Fleming

  3. Division of Life Sciences, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, 78249, USA

    J. A. Lewis

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  1. J. T. Fleming
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  2. C. Tornoe
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  3. H. A. Riina
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  4. J. Coadwell
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  5. J. A. Lewis
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  6. D. B. Sattelle
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Equipe de Neurobiologie, C.N.R.S.-Université de Rennes I, Bât. 13-Complexe Univ. de Beaulieu, F-35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Yves Pichon

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© 1993 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland

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Fleming, J.T., Tornoe, C., Riina, H.A., Coadwell, J., Lewis, J.A., Sattelle, D.B. (1993). Acetylcholine receptor molecules of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans . In: Pichon, Y. (eds) Comparative Molecular Neurobiology. EXS, vol 63. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7265-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7265-2_4

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-7267-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-7265-2

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