Project overview
Through this Norway-UK partnership, the main goal of this project is to trace the origin of neuropeptide signalling back to premetazoan times using choanoflagellates, with a specific focus on the species Salpingoeca rosetta. Specific objectives: 1.- To identify bioinformatically the neuropeptidome of different choanoflagellate species. 2.- To identify and perform the phylogenetic reconstruction of neuropeptide G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and neuropeptide-gated channels in choanoflagellates. 3.- To establish an S. rosetta culture at the University of Exeter. 4.- To experimentally test ligand-receptor interactions from S. rosetta receptors in a heterologous-expression system 5.- To investigate at the cellular level if neuropeptides regulate behaviour in the choanoflagellate S. rosetta. 6.- To establish a long-term research collaboration with an internationally leading expert in the evolution of the nervous system and molecular biology of choanoflagellates from Norway
