Dopamine, a powerful brain chemical and neurotransmitter, is a key regulator of many important functions such as attention, experiencing pleasure and reward, and coordinating movement. The brain tightly regulates the production, release, inactivation and signaling of dopamine via a host of genes whose identity and link to human disease continue to expand. Brain disorders associated with altered dopamine signaling include substance use disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.
The complexity of the human brain and its dopamine-associated disorders have encouraged many researchers to seek insights from simpler organisms whose genes bear striking similarity to those found in humans and where opportunities for genetic insights to disease can be pursued more efficiently and inexpensively. With the help of a tiny, transparent worm called Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers from Florida Atlantic University have identified novel players in dopamine signaling by taking advantage of a powerful platform generated via the Million Mutation Project (MMP) for the rapid identification of mutant genes based on their functional impact. The key resource of the MMP is a collection of 2,007 worm strains bearing chemically induced gene mutations.
The genomes of each strain have been fully sequenced, the information archived and accessible via the web, and with all strains available for research use. Altogether, the M.