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Phone: 212-241-0215 E-mail: klaudiusz.weiss@mssm.edu
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Research
Selected Publications
Klaudiusz Weiss Institutional Webpage
Cellular Mechanisms of Behavioral Plasticity
We use a multidisciplinary approach that combines behavioral, morphological, electrophysiological, cell biological and molecular-biological techniques to explain the neural basis of those forms of behavioral plasticity that are due to changes in the motivational state of animals.
In view of the complexity of these questions, we have chosen to ask them in a preparation that has a relatively simple nervous system - the marine mollusc Aplysia californica. The central nervous system of this animal is distributed into several ganglia, each of which consists of a limited number of neurons, many of which are large and easily identifiable as unique individuals. The ability to recognize the same neurons from animal to animal has greatly facilitated the functional characterization of individual cells as sensory neurons, motor neurons and interneurons. This in turn has allowed the reconstruction of neuronal circuits that mediate a variety of behaviors.
Our laboratory has been using the feeding behavior of Aplysia to determine the cellular mechanisms that are responsible for those forms of behavioral plasticity that result from changes in the level of hunger and arousal of the animal. Circuit-level analysis has provided new insights into the organization of neuronal networks into mediating and modulatory systems and led to a new conceptualization of command neurons. Studies of transmitters and modulators involved in the regulation of behavior have resulted in purification and sequencing of several novel neuropeptides and to molecular cloning of the mRNA of these molecules. These neuropeptides have now been localized to specific neurons, and shown to act as cotransmitters. To a large extent our research is now focused on the role that these peptidergic cotransmitters play in optimizing the efficiency of behavior in response to changes in the motivational state of the animal. We are particularly interested in determining:
- The relationships between different forms of behavior and the patterns of neuronal activity.
- The dependence of peptide cotransmitter release on the pattern of neuronal activity.
- The physiological consequences of the interactions between multiple cotransmitters.
- The subcellular mechanisms involved in the interaction of multiple transmitters and cotransmitters, with particular emphasis on the identification of second messengers and kinases, as well as proteins phosphorylated by these kinases.
We expect that this approach will yield a unified picture in which our understanding of behavioral plasticity will extend all the way from behavior to the molecules involved.
Sasaki K, Jing J, Due MR, Weiss KR. An input-representing interneuron regulates spike timing and thereby phase switching in a motor network. J Neurosci. 2008 Feb;28(8):1916-1928. Read as PDF |
| Wu J-S, Due MR, Sasaki K, Proekt A, Jing J, Weiss KR. State dependence of spike timing and neuronal function in a motor pattern generating network. J Neurosci. 2007 October; 27(40):10818-10831. Read as PDF |
| Proekt A, Jing J, Weiss KR. Multiple contributions of an input-representing neuron to the dynamics of the Aplysia feeding network. J Neurophysiol. 2007 April: 97(4): 3046-56.
Read as PDF |
| Jing J, Vilim FS, Horn CC, Alexeeva V, Hatcher NG, Sasaki
K, Yashina I, Zhurov Y, Kupfermann I, Sweedler JV, Weiss KR. From hunger to satiety:
reconfiguration of a feeding network by Aplysia Neuropeptide Y. J Neurosci. 2007 March; 27(13):3490-3502 Recommended by FACULTY OF 1000 BIOLOGY:  Read as PDF |
| Jing J, Weiss KR.
Modular computations in a hierarchical motor network. in Symposium for Advances in Computational Motor Control IV, 2005.
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| Proekt A, Vilim FS, Alexeeva V, Brezina V,
Friedman A, Jing J, Li L, Zhurov Y, Sweedler
JV, Weiss KR. Identification of a new neuropeptide
precursor reveals a novel source of extrinsic modulation in the feeding
system of Aplysia. J Neurosci. 2005 Oct 19;25(42):9637-48. View Abstract Read as PDF |
| Jing J, Weiss KR. Generation of variants of a motor act in a modular
and hierarchical motor network. Curr Biol. 2005 Oct 11;15(19):1712-21. IN THE NEWS: BBCNEWS Read as PDF |
| Jing J, Cropper EC, Hurwitz I, Weiss KR. The construction of movement
with behavior-specific and behavior-independent modules. J Neurosci.
2004 July 14;24(28):6315-25. Read as PDF |
| Proekt A, Brezina V, Weiss KR. Dynamical basis of intentions and
expectations in a simple neuronal network. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S
A. 2004 Jun 22;101(25):9447-52. Read as PDF |
| Dembrow NC, Jing J, Brezina V, Weiss KR. A specific synaptic pathway
activates a conditional plateau potential underlying protraction phase
in the Aplysia feeding central pattern generator. J Neurosci. 2004
Jun 2;24(22):5230-8. Read as PDF |
| Due MR, Jing J, Weiss KR. Dopaminergic contributions to modulatory
functions of a dual-transmitter interneuron in Aplysia. Neurosci Lett.
2004 Mar 18;358(1):53-7. Read as PDF |
| Hummon AB, Hummon NP, Corbin RW, Li L, Vilim FS, Weiss KR, Sweedler
JV. From precursor to final peptides: a statistical sequence-based
approach to predicting prohormone processing. J Proteome Res. 2003
Nov-Dec;2(6):650-6. |
| Jing J, Vilim FS, Wu JS, Park JH, Weiss KR. Concerted GABAergic
actions of Aplysia feeding interneurons in motor program specification.
J Neurosci. 2003 Jun 15;23(12):5283-94. Read as PDF |
| Dembrow NC, Jing J, Proekt A, Romero A, Vilim FS, Cropper EC, Weiss
KR. A newly identified buccal interneuron initiates and modulates
feeding motor programs in Aplysia. J Neurophysiol. Oct;90(4):2190-204.
Read as PDF |
| Hurwitz I, Kupfermann I, Weiss KR. Fast synaptic connections from
CBIs to pattern-generating neurons in Aplysia: initiation and modification
of motor programs. J Neurophysiol. 2003 Apr;89(4):2120-36. Read as PDF |
| Jing J, Weiss KR. Interneuronal basis of the generation of related
but distinct motor programs in Aplysia: implications for current neuronal
models of vertebrate intralimb coordination. J Neurosci. 2002 Jul
15;22(14):6228-38. Read as PDF |
| Vilim FS, Alexeeva V, Moroz LL, Li L, Moroz TP, Sweedler JV, Weiss
KR. Cloning, expression and processing of the CP2 neuropeptide precursor
of Aplysia. Peptides. 2001 Dec;22(12):2027-38. Read as PDF |
| Morgan PT, Jing J, Vilim FS, Weiss KR. Interneuronal and peptidergic
control of motor pattern switching in Aplysia. J Neurophysiol. 2002
Jan;87(1):49-61. Read as PDF |
| Jing J, Weiss KR. Neural mechanisms of motor program switching
in Aplysia. J Neurosci. 2001 Sep 15;21(18):7349-62. Read as PDF |
| Karhunen T, Vilim FS, Alexeeva V, Weiss KR, Church PJ. Targeting
of peptidergic vesicles in cotransmitting terminals. J Neurosci. 2001
Feb 1;21(3):RC127. Read as PDF |
| Brezina V, Church PJ, Weiss KR. Temporal pattern dependence of neuronal
peptide transmitter release: models and experiments. J Neurosci. 2000
Sep 15;20(18):6760-72. Read as PDF |
| Chang DJ, Li XC, Lee YS, Kim HK, Kim US, Cho NJ, Lo X, Weiss KR,
Kandel ER, Kaang BK. Activation of a heterologously expressed octopamine
receptor coupled only to adenylyl cyclase produces all the features
of presynaptic facilitation in aplysia sensory neurons. Proc Natl
Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Feb 15;97(4):1829-34. Read as PDF |
| Vilim FS, Cropper EC, Price DA, Kupfermann I, Weiss KR. Peptide
cotransmitter release from motorneuron B16 in aplysia californica:
costorage, corelease, and functional implications. J Neurosci. 2000
Mar 1;20(5):2036-42. Read as PDF |
| Brezina V, Orekhova IV, Weiss KR. Optimization of rhythmic behaviors
by modulation of the neuromuscular transform. J Neurophysiol. 2000
Jan;83(1):260-79. Read as PDF |
| Fujisawa Y, Furukawa Y, Ohta S, Ellis TA, Dembrow NC, Li L, Floyd
PD, Sweedler JV, Minakata H, Nakamaru K, Morishita F, Matsushima O,
Weiss KR, Vilim FS. The Aplysia mytilus inhibitory peptide-related
peptides: identification, cloning, processing, distribution, and action.
J Neurosci. 1999 Nov 1;19(21):9618-34. Read as PDF |
| Perrins R, Weiss KR. Compartmentalization of information processing
in an aplysia feeding circuit interneuron through membrane properties
and synaptic interactions. J Neurosci. 1998 May 15;18(10):3977-89.
Read as PDF |
| Brezina V, Orekhova IV, Weiss KR. Control of time-dependent biological
processes by temporally patterned input. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
1997 Sep 16;94(19):10444-9. Read as PDF |
| Kobe B, Heierhorst J, Feil SC, Parker MW, Benian GM, Weiss KR, Kemp
BE. Giant protein kinases: domain interactions and structural basis
of autoregulation. EMBO J. 1996 Dec 16;15(24):6810-21. |
| Vilim FS, Price DA, Lesser W, Kupfermann I, Weiss KR. Costorage
and corelease of modulatory peptide cotransmitters with partially
antagonistic actions on the accessory radula closer muscle of Aplysia
californica. J Neurosci. 1996 Dec 15;16(24):8092-104. Read as PDF |
| Brezina V, Orekhova IV, Weiss KR. Functional uncoupling of linked
neurotransmitter effects by combinatorial convergence. Science. 1996
Aug 9;273(5276):806-10. Read as PDF |
| Heierhorst J, Kobe B, Feil SC, Parker MW, Benian GM, Weiss KR, Kemp
BE. Ca2+/S100 regulation of giant protein kinases. Nature. 1996 Apr
18;380(6575):636-9. |