Neurons are specialized cells in the nervous system that act to transfer information. They receive signals from other neurons via branched extensions called dendrites. The word dendrite is derived from the Greek word dendron which means tree. Dendritic trees can take many different shapes depending on the needs of a given neuron. We are interested in understanding the genetic factors that direct a neuron to build its dendritic tree in a certain pattern.

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In the lab, Deirdre is confronting this task by using genetically modified Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) and imaging the dendritic trees of sensory neurons. She compares the effect of losing certain genes on the pattern that these branches make. In this way she can highlight genes that are important for dendritic tree patterning. Some of these genes are conserved across species and can tell us a lot about their potential function in humans. 

 

Our aim with this project is to use an alternative approach to understand how genetics can influence branching patterns.

 

We will be researching 4 Drosophila genes; spire, flamingo, shrinking violet and tumbleweed. Through introducing mutations in these genes researchers were able to identify that each of these have different effects on the branching patterns of dendritic trees.

 

Now, it's your turn to be the experimental subject.

 

For the purposes of this experiment a ‘branch’ will be the path you take from your home to a destination of your choice. A regular and routine path that you take all the time. We will introduce ‘mutations’ that reflect our genes of interest to see the effect they make on your branching patterns. Don't worry- there won't be any gene editing, but we will set conditions for your second journey that will affect how you get around.

 

We will incorporate the 'branches' from participants to make up a picture of our collective neuron. It will represent our patterns that we make in our own cities. We invite you to join us at the final exhibition to see where your branch fits into these collective neurons, and how the gene mutations affect our patterns.