Project description:Snakes possess a unique sensory system for detecting infrared radiation, enabling them to generate a ‘thermal image’ of predators or prey. Infrared signals are initially received by the pit organ, a highly specialized facial structure that is innervated by nerve fibers of the somatosensory system. How this organ detects and transduces infrared signals into nerve impulses is not known. Here we use an unbiased transcriptional profiling approach to identify TRPA1 as the infrared receptor on sensory neurons that innervate the pit organ. TRPA1 from pit bearing snakes (rattlesnakes and pythons) are the most heat sensitive vertebrate ion channels thus far identified, consistent with their role as primary transducers of infrared stimuli in these animals. Thus, snakes detect infrared signals through a mechanism involving radiant heating of the pit organ, rather than photochemical transduction. These findings illustrate the broad evolutionary tuning of TRP channels as thermosensors in the vertebrate nervous system. Gene expression measurements implicate TRPA1 as the heat-sensitive channel in diverse pit snakes
Project description:The first GSSM of V. vinifera was reconstructed (MODEL2408120001). Tissue-specific models for stem, leaf, and berry of the Cabernet Sauvignon cultivar were generated from the original model, through the integration of RNA-Seq data. These models have been merged into diel multi-tissue models to study the interactions between tissues at light and dark phases.
Project description:Snakes possess a unique sensory system for detecting infrared radiation, enabling them to generate a ‘thermal image’ of predators or prey. Infrared signals are initially received by the pit organ, a highly specialized facial structure that is innervated by nerve fibers of the somatosensory system. How this organ detects and transduces infrared signals into nerve impulses is not known. Here we use an unbiased transcriptional profiling approach to identify TRPA1 as the infrared receptor on sensory neurons that innervate the pit organ. TRPA1 from pit bearing snakes (rattlesnakes and pythons) are the most heat sensitive vertebrate ion channels thus far identified, consistent with their role as primary transducers of infrared stimuli in these animals. Thus, snakes detect infrared signals through a mechanism involving radiant heating of the pit organ, rather than photochemical transduction. These findings illustrate the broad evolutionary tuning of TRP channels as thermosensors in the vertebrate nervous system.