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Gillette, Rhanor
Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology
B.S., University of Miami
M.S., University of Hawaii
Ph.D., University of Toronto
Research Areas
Mechanisms of behavioral decision in cell and circuit
We are interested in how animals integrate sensory knowledge of the environment with internal state and experience to produce adaptive behavior. We use the carnivorous marine snail Pleurobranchaea californica, whose behavior is organized like that of vertebrate predators but has far fewer behavioral subroutines. With simpler behavior and nervous system, the animal is a superb model system to study mechanisms of motivation and learning at the circuit and cellular level. We are studying mechanisms of arousal of feeding behavior as they are mediated by neuromodulators, such as nitric oxide and serotonin at cAMP-gated ion channels in neurons of the feeding motor network. Ongoing description of the circuitry underlying aversive behaviors and the network interactions of feeding and aversive behaviors is expected to elucidate basic mechanisms of decision-making, and how these decisions are influenced by hunger and prior experience. Recent work models the signaling pathway for cAMP, neural networks mediating decision in Pleurobranchaea and decision as the integrative product of sensation, internal state and experience (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/slugcity).
Representative Publications
Hatcher, N.G., Sudlow, L.C., Moroz, L.L., and Gillette, R. 2006. Nitric Oxide potentiates cAMP-gated cation current in feeding neurons of Pleurobranchaea californica independent of cAMP and cGMP signaling pathways. J. Neurophysiol. 95, 3219-3227.
Stuart, J.N., Hatcher, N.G., Zhang, X., Gillette, R. and Sweedler, J.V. 2005. Squrious serotonin dimer formation using electrokinetic injection in capillary electrophoresis from small volume biological samples. Analyst. 130, 147-151.
Stuart, J.N., J.D. Ebaugh, A.L. Copes, N.G. Hatcher, R. Gillette, and J.V. Sweedler. 2004. Systemic serotonin sulfate in opisthobranch mollusks. Journal of Neurochemistry. 90:734-743.
Jing, J. and Gillette, R. 2003. Directional avoidance turns encoded by single neurons and sustained by multifunctional serotonergic cells. Journal of Neuroscience 23: 3039-3051.
Gillette, R., and J. Jing. 2001. The role of the escape swim motor network in the organization of behavioral hierarchy and arousal in Pleurobranchaea. American Zoologist. 41:983-992.
Gillette, R., Huang, R.-C., Hatcher, N. and Moroz, L. L. 2000. Cost-benefit analysis potential in feeding behavior of a predatory snail by integration of hunger, taste and pain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 97: 3585-3590.
Jing, J. and Gillette, R. 2000. Escape swim network interneurons have diverse roles in behavioral switching and putative arousal in Pleurobranchaea. Journal of Neurophysiology. 83: 1346-1355.
Additional Information
Collaborative Projects:
Prof Jonathan Sweedler (Chemistry) The roles of seritonin and NO in regulating feeding behavior in model organisms
Related Research (By Area):
Neuroethology
Sensory and Motor Systems
Contact information:
