Dr Mario de Bono University positionGroup Leader, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Dr Mario de Bono is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students. InstitutesMedical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology Home pagehttp://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/... (personal home page) Research ThemesInterestsWe seek to understand how neural networks are assembled, function and evolve.
C. elegans is a powerful system to study neural circuits. The worm has exactly 302 neurons each of which can be identified. EM reconstructions have identified synaptic connections made by each neuron, providing a wiring diagram. By combining genetics, molecular and cell biology, and neural imaging we can dissect how these circuits work.
The worm inhabits humus where it feeds on microbes. To forage it integrates multiple cues, e.g., signals from bacteria and other animal, levels of ambient O2 and CO2. We are studying the genetic and neural architectures that allow these responses to be integrated and modified by experience.
Foraging strategies vary across natural C. elegans isolates, providing an opportunity also to investigate how neural circuits and behaviour evolve.
Conservation in neural signalling means our results are often generally applicable to other animals, including mammals. Research Focus
EquipmentBehavioural analysis Calcium imaging Confocal microscopy Fluorescence microscopy Laser cell ablation Recombinant protein expression Collaborators
Associated News ItemsKey publicationsPersson A, Gross E, Laurent P, Busch KE, Bretes H, de Bono M (2009), “Natural variation in a neural globin tunes oxygen sensing in wild Caenorhabditis elegans.” Nature 458(7241):1030-3 Details de Bono M, Bargmann CI (1998), “Natural variation in a neuropeptide Y receptor homolog modifies social behavior and food response in C. elegans.” Cell 94(5):679-89 Details Publications2014Chen C, Itakura E, Weber KP, Hegde RS, de Bono M (2014), “An ER complex of ODR-4 and ODR-8/Ufm1 specific protease 2 promotes GPCR maturation by a Ufm1-independent mechanism.” PLoS Genet 10(3):e1004082 Details Linneweber GA, Jacobson J, Busch KE, Hudry B, Christov CP, Dormann D, Yuan M, Otani T, Knust E, de Bono M, Miguel-Aliaga I (2014), “Neuronal control of metabolism through nutrient-dependent modulation of tracheal branching.” Cell 156(1-2):69-83 Details 2013Chen C, Fenk LA, de Bono M (2013), “Efficient genome editing in Caenorhabditis elegans by CRISPR-targeted homologous recombination.” Nucleic Acids Res 41(20):e193 Details Couto A, Oda S, Nikolaev VO, Soltesz Z, de Bono M (2013), “In vivo genetic dissection of O2-evoked cGMP dynamics in a Caenorhabditis elegans gas sensor.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(35):E3301-10 Details Kodama-Namba E, Fenk LA, Bretscher AJ, Gross E, Busch KE, de Bono M (2013), “Cross-modulation of homeostatic responses to temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide in C. elegans.” PLoS Genet 9(12):e1004011 Details Rodriguez M, Snoek LB, De Bono M, Kammenga JE (2013), “Worms under stress: C. elegans stress response and its relevance to complex human disease and aging.” Trends Genet 29(6):367-74 Details 2012Busch KE, Laurent P, Soltesz Z, Murphy RJ, Faivre O, Hedwig B, Thomas M, Smith HL, de Bono M (2012), “Tonic signaling from O₂ sensors sets neural circuit activity and behavioral state.” Nat Neurosci 15(4):581-91 Details 2011Arellano-Carbajal F, Briseño-Roa L, Couto A, Cheung BH, Labouesse M, de Bono M (2011), “Macoilin, a conserved nervous system-specific ER membrane protein that regulates neuronal excitability.” PLoS Genet 7(3):e1001341 Details Bretscher AJ, Kodama-Namba E, Busch KE, Murphy RJ, Soltesz Z, Laurent P, de Bono M (2011), “Temperature, oxygen, and salt-sensing neurons in C. elegans are carbon dioxide sensors that control avoidance behavior.” Neuron 69(6):1099-113 Details Milward K, Busch KE, Murphy RJ, de Bono M, Olofsson B (2011), “Neuronal and molecular substrates for optimal foraging in Caenorhabditis elegans.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108(51):20672-7 Details 2010Weber KP, De S, Kozarewa I, Turner DJ, Babu MM, de Bono M (2010), “Whole genome sequencing highlights genetic changes associated with laboratory domestication of C. elegans.” PLoS One 5(11):e13922 Details 2009Cohen M, Reale V, Olofsson B, Knights A, Evans P, de Bono M (2009), “Coordinated regulation of foraging and metabolism in C. elegans by RFamide neuropeptide signaling.” Cell Metab 9(4):375-85 Details 2008Bretscher AJ, Busch KE, de Bono M (2008), “A carbon dioxide avoidance behavior is integrated with responses to ambient oxygen and food in Caenorhabditis elegans.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105(23):8044-9 Details Kammenga JE, Phillips PC, De Bono M, Doroszuk A (2008), “Beyond induced mutants: using worms to study natural variation in genetic pathways.” Trends Genet 24(4):178-85 Details Olofsson B, de Bono M (2008), “Sleep: dozy worms and sleepy flies.” Curr Biol 18(5):R204-6 Details 2007Gumienny TL, MacNeil LT, Wang H, de Bono M, Wrana JL, Padgett RW (2007), “Glypican LON-2 is a conserved negative regulator of BMP-like signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans.” Curr Biol 17(2):159-64 Details 2006Rogers C, Persson A, Cheung B, de Bono M (2006), “Behavioral motifs and neural pathways coordinating O2 responses and aggregation in C. elegans.” Curr Biol 16(7):649-59 Details Salecker I, Häusser M, de Bono M (2006), “On the axonal road to circuit function and behaviour: Workshop on The Assembly and Function of Neuronal Circuits.” EMBO Rep 7(6):585-9 Details 2005Cheung BH, Cohen M, Rogers C, Albayram O, de Bono M (2005), “Experience-dependent modulation of C. elegans behavior by ambient oxygen.” Curr Biol 15(10):905-17 Details de Bono M, Maricq AV (2005), “Neuronal substrates of complex behaviors in C. elegans.” Annu Rev Neurosci 28:451-501 Details 2004Cheung BH, Arellano-Carbajal F, Rybicki I, de Bono M (2004), “Soluble guanylate cyclases act in neurons exposed to the body fluid to promote C. elegans aggregation behavior.” Curr Biol 14(12):1105-11 Details MacKenzie IZ, Bichler J, Mason GC, Lunan CB, Stewart P, Al-Azzawi F, De Bono M, Watson N, Andresen I (2004), “Efficacy and safety of a new, chromatographically purified rhesus (D) immunoglobulin.” Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 117(2):154-61 Details 2003de Bono M (2003), “Molecular approaches to aggregation behavior and social attachment.” J Neurobiol 54(1):78-92 Details Rogers C, Reale V, Kim K, Chatwin H, Li C, Evans P, de Bono M (2003), “Inhibition of Caenorhabditis elegans social feeding by FMRFamide-related peptide activation of NPR 1” Nature Neuroscience 6:1178-85 Rogers C, Reale V, Kim K, Chatwin H, Li C, Evans P, de Bono M (2003), “Inhibition of Caenorhabditis elegans social feeding by FMRFamide-related peptide activation of NPR-1.” Nat Neurosci 6(11):1178-85 Details 2002Coates JC, de Bono M (2002), “Antagonistic pathways in neurons exposed to body fluid regulate social feeding in Caenorhabditis elegans” Nature 419:925-9 Coates JC, de Bono M (2002), “Antagonistic pathways in neurons exposed to body fluid regulate social feeding in Caenorhabditis elegans.” Nature 419(6910):925-9 Details de Bono M, Tobin DM, Davis MW, Avery L, Bargmann CI (2002), “Social feeding in Caenorhabditis elegans is induced by neurons that detect aversive stimuli.” Nature 419(6910):899-903 Details 1996de Bono M, Hodgkin J (1996), “Evolution of sex determination in caenorhabditis: unusually high divergence of tra-1 and its functional consequences.” Genetics 144(2):587-95 Details 1995de Bono M, Zarkower D, Hodgkin J (1995), “Dominant feminizing mutations implicate protein-protein interactions as the main mode of regulation of the nematode sex-determining gene tra-1.” Genes Dev 9(2):155-67 Details 1994Zarkower D, De Bono M, Aronoff R, Hodgkin J (1994), “Regulatory rearrangements and smg-sensitive alleles of the C. elegans sex-determining gene tra-1.” Dev Genet 15(3):240-50 Details |