ChanFAD: A Functional Annotation Database for Ion Channels.

Ion channels are integral membrane protein complexes critical for regulation of membrane potential, cell volume, and other signaling events. As complex molecular assemblies with many interacting partners, ion channels have multiple structural and functional domains. While channel sequence and functional data are readily available across multiple online resources, there is an unmet need for functional annotation directly relating primary sequence information, 2D interactions, and three-dimensional protein structure.

"Getting Under the Hood" of Neuronal Signaling in .

is a powerful model to study the neural and biochemical basis of behavior. It combines a small, completely mapped nervous system, powerful genetic tools, and a transparent cuticle, allowing Ca imaging without the need for dissection. However, these approaches remain one step removed from direct pharmacological and physiological characterization of individual neurons.

Serotonin Disinhibits a Sensory Neuron by Suppressing Ca-Dependent Negative Feedback.

Neuromodulators, such as serotonin (5-HT), alter neuronal excitability and synaptic strengths, and define different behavioral states. Neuromodulator-dependent changes in neuronal activity patterns are frequently measured using calcium reporters because calcium imaging can easily be performed on intact functioning nervous systems. With only 302 neurons, the nematode provides a relatively simple, yet powerful, system to understand neuromodulation at the level of individual neurons.

Serotonin differentially modulates Ca2+ transients and depolarization in a C. elegans nociceptor.

Monoamines and neuropeptides modulate neuronal excitability and synaptic strengths, shaping circuit activity to optimize behavioral output. In C. elegans, a pair of bipolar polymodal nociceptors, the ASHs, sense 1-octanol to initiate escape responses.