Project description
Understanding how neuropeptides influence learning
The brain’s ability to learn is regulated by various chemical messengers, particularly neuropeptides. These neuromodulators form complex signalling networks within neurons, but their roles in learning circuits are not well understood. It is hypothesised that their coordinated actions enable flexible control of these circuits. The ERC-funded NEUROPEPTALK project aims to explore how neuropeptides influence learning in the nervous system of the roundworm (C. elegans). The project will identify pathways through neuropeptide GPCRs and examine their effects on aversive learning in gustatory and olfactory circuits. Key questions include the unique roles of neuropeptides in learning and how these networks affect responses. Ultimately, the project aims to enhance our understanding of neuropeptide networks in learning and behaviour.
Objective
Humanity has always been intrigued by the brain’s ceaseless capacity to learn and store experiences. However, the ability to acquire and retrieve learned information is dynamic and regulated by a bewildering variety of chemical messengers. Neuropeptides form the largest and most diverse group of neuromodulators and play important roles in learning. Growing evidence exists showing that they form dense signaling networks, with most neurons expressing many neuropeptides and receptors, but how this complex network is engaged in learning circuits has not been systematically explored in living animals. Our working hypothesis is that the concerted actions and integration of neuropeptide signals mediates flexible control of learning circuits.
We will test this hypothesis in the small and well-described nervous system of C. elegans, building on system-wide peptide network maps recently generated by my group. Given their high diversity, such a controlled context for penetrating the complex neuropeptide “language” in learning circuits is preferable. We will first identify the molecular pathways by which C. elegans neuropeptide GPCRs modulate neural activity, as this will provide the foundation to dissect their concerted actions. We will then systematically test how neuropeptide pathways impact short-term aversive learning in defined gustatory and olfactory circuits, study their impact on whole-circuit activity, and determine their temporal dynamics. Pertinent questions we will address include: ‘What are the unique versus redundant effects of neuropeptides in a learning context?’; ‘How do cellular networks encoding aversive experience respond to and integrate neuropeptidergic network activity?’ and ‘When do neuropeptidergic networks act to potentiate or attenuate learned responses?’
We expect on the long term, this project will impact our understanding of how neuropeptide networks influence and organize learning, forgetting, and adaptive behavioral responses in general.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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3000 Leuven
Belgium
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