Meeting Abstract

P2.127  Thursday, Jan. 5  Mapping Expression of a Novel 5-HT7 Receptor in Aplysia californica CAVANAUGH, M.R.*; GIACOMINI, J.; MCPHERSON, D.R.; LOVETT, J.A.; SUNY at Geneseo; SUNY at Geneseo; SUNY at Geneseo; SUNY at Geneseo mrc10@geneseo.edu

Aplysia californica is a marine gastropod commonly used in neurobiology. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, plays a major role in modulating locomotion in Aplysia. In the foot muscle of Aplysia serotonin has been found to raise levels of cAMP, causing a stronger muscle contraction. Serotonin produces this reaction by interacting with the cell through a specific G-protein coupled receptor in the cell membrane. Our lab has previously isolated and cloned a serotonergic receptor that increases cAMP levels, a 5-HT7 subtype. We have mapped the expression of this 5-HT7 receptor at the tissue level. Expression levels were tested in samples from foot muscle, kidney, heart, and the I5 buccal muscle, as well as the pedal, pleural, cerebral, abdominal and buccal ganglia. mRNA was extracted from each of these samples and used to create cDNA, which underwent PCR amplification with primers specific to the 5-HT7 receptor. Actin cDNA was also amplified to test for expression levels. Actin is a ubiquitous housekeeping protein that is expected to maintain relatively constant levels of expression throughout all tissue types. The level of expression of 5-HT7 mRNA for each sample was compared to the level of actin mRNA detected to determine the relative expression of the receptor. Our results show that the 5-HT7 receptor is absent from heart muscle but is expressed with similar abundance in all the other tissues tested. This project was funded in part by a Geneseo Foundation Summer Fellowship.