ZNEOPSIN_II · The role of novel opsins in non-visual light detection in the zebrafish brain
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-09-01 → 2021-03-17
- EU contribution
- €183,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
The role of novel opsins in non-visual light detection in the zebrafish brain
Vision has been typically seen as the major response to light, however, non-visual light detection modulates diverse physiological responses, including circadian rhythms and sleep. In mammals, both visual and non-visual photoreception is ocular. By contrast, non-mammalian vertebrates possess a wide range of anatomically diverse photoreceptive sites. This fact is especially evident in the zebrafish, where isolated organs can be directly entrained by light. This is true even in early embryonic stages, before the differentiation of any light detecting structures, and in zebrafish cell lines. This general light sensitivity implies that cells and tissues contain the essential photopigments required for light detection. A wide variety of non-visual pigments have been identified in vertebrates, all of which appear to use a basic opsin/vitamin A-based photopigment biochemistry. Moreover, a recent work led the discovery of 4 novel nonvisual opsin classes (opn6, opn7, opn8 and opn9), consisting of 10 unique genes designated novopsins. Expression analysis showed that novopsins are highly expressed in adult zebrafish brain, and they are localized to brain areas previously shown to be light-sensitive. However, a functional link between a specific opsin and its function is still missing and more work is required to unravel the photosensory role of the newly discovered non-visual pigments on zebrafish brain function, behaviour and sleep. The project will be focused on brain, which include an important behavioural aspect, increasing our knowledge on the regulation of specific behaviours by non-visual light detection. Apart from locomotor activity, this includes sleep, where zebrafish has emerged as an important model organism and represents a fundamental research field of considerable importance to human being. The overall aims of the project are outlined below: Aim 1: Examine the developmental expression pattern of 10 novopsin genes in wild type zebrafish and select candidate photopigments according to their expression pattern to obtain specific mutants. Aim 2: Determine the consequences of opsin mutations on entrainment of the circadian clock and rhythmic neural activity. Aim 3: Explore the consequences of deletion on zebrafish locomotor activity and sleep.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Light impacts on life by modulating the physiology and behaviour of most living organisms. Both vertebrates andinvertebrates have developed an extensive and diverse range of photoreceptor structures and photopigments, whichmediate these light responses. Clearly light is used for vision, being detected by specialized rod and cone cells in the retinaand processed by the visual centers of the brain. However, light also regulates many non-visual processes, and novel nonvisual photopigments are regularly being discovered. Recent studies have shown a role for non-visual photoreception inseasonal responses, activation of DNA repair mechanisms, entrainment of the circadian clock and sleep-wake regulation,but the mechanisms are far less understood. This phenomenon is particularly extensive in teleosts such as zebrafish, whereall tissues and cells of the adult and larval body are directly light responsive. The purpose of ZNEOPSIN_II is to determine the role that non-visual light detection plays in early development in zebrafish, focusing on neurobiology, the entrainment of the circadian clock and specific aspects of behaviour. I will take advantage of zebrafish, a genetic model organism available at the host lab, a leading zebrafish circadian biology lab at University College London, which is also one of the larger zebrafish research communities in Europe. The latest technical approaches for gene knockdown (CRISPR/Cas genome editing), and luminescent/fluorescent imaging, together with classical molecular biology techniques, will be combined with state of the art behavioural assays developed in zebrafish. The results of ZNEOPSIN_II will provide invaluable insights into the biological significance of non-visual light detection, and the roles played by a range of newly discovered opsins, as well as provide a junior researcher with the best possible training in both molecular biology, functional neurobiology and behaviour.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LondonCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union