Dresden 2006 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 10: Neuroscience
AKB 10.5: Talk
Tuesday, March 28, 2006, 12:45–13:00, ZEU 255
Postsynaptic signaling at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction during development — •Thomas Bittig1, Veronica Dudu2, Eugeni Entchev2, Anna Kicheva2, Marcos González-Gaitán2, and Frank Jülicher1 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Noethnitzer Strasse 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauer Strasse 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Cellular signaling systems play an important role during development to determine cell fates and regulate cellular properties. Muscle development is affected by cell-to-cell communication at the synapse which involves the TGF-beta signaling pathway. Synaptic plasticity and the role of growth factors can be studied in the Drosophila neuromuscular junction (NMJ), which is formed during embryogenesis and grows during larval stages to adjust itself to the growth of the muscle. There TGF-beta signaling is transduced by the phosphorylation of transcription factors in the cytosol, which causes their accumulation in the nucleus where they activate gene expression.
We use a simple kinetic model to describe cytoplasmic and nuclear pools of phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated transcription factors that mediate TGF-beta signaling in the muscle cells. This model is used to interpret the time dependence of the concentrations of these molecules as observed in FRAP (Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching) experiments. We determine several rate constants of intracellular signaling and show that synaptic signaling via neural action potentials modulates the developmental signaling via growth factors.