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Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans

Neuronal cell fate determinants establish the identities of neurons by controlling gene expression to regulate neuronal morphology and synaptic connectivity. However, it is not understood if neuronal cell fate determinants have postmitotic functions in synapse pattern formation. Here we identify a n...

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Autores principales: Kurashina, Mizuki, Wang, Jane, Lin, Jeffrey, Lee, Kathy Kyungeun, Johal, Arpun, Mizumoto, Kota
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8363302/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34388088
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66011
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author Kurashina, Mizuki
Wang, Jane
Lin, Jeffrey
Lee, Kathy Kyungeun
Johal, Arpun
Mizumoto, Kota
author_facet Kurashina, Mizuki
Wang, Jane
Lin, Jeffrey
Lee, Kathy Kyungeun
Johal, Arpun
Mizumoto, Kota
author_sort Kurashina, Mizuki
collection PubMed
description Neuronal cell fate determinants establish the identities of neurons by controlling gene expression to regulate neuronal morphology and synaptic connectivity. However, it is not understood if neuronal cell fate determinants have postmitotic functions in synapse pattern formation. Here we identify a novel role for UNC-4 homeobox protein and its corepressor UNC-37/Groucho, in tiled synaptic patterning of the cholinergic motor neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that unc-4 is not required during neurogenesis but is required in the postmitotic neurons for proper synapse patterning. In contrast, unc-37 is required in both developing and postmitotic neurons. The synaptic tiling defects of unc-4 mutants are suppressed by bar-1/β-catenin mutation, which positively regulates the expression of ceh-12/HB9. Ectopic ceh-12 expression partly underlies the synaptic tiling defects of unc-4 and unc-37 mutants. Our results reveal a novel postmitotic role of neuronal cell fate determinants in synapse pattern formation through inhibiting the canonical Wnt signaling pathway.
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spelling pubmed-83633022021-08-16 Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans Kurashina, Mizuki Wang, Jane Lin, Jeffrey Lee, Kathy Kyungeun Johal, Arpun Mizumoto, Kota eLife Developmental Biology Neuronal cell fate determinants establish the identities of neurons by controlling gene expression to regulate neuronal morphology and synaptic connectivity. However, it is not understood if neuronal cell fate determinants have postmitotic functions in synapse pattern formation. Here we identify a novel role for UNC-4 homeobox protein and its corepressor UNC-37/Groucho, in tiled synaptic patterning of the cholinergic motor neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that unc-4 is not required during neurogenesis but is required in the postmitotic neurons for proper synapse patterning. In contrast, unc-37 is required in both developing and postmitotic neurons. The synaptic tiling defects of unc-4 mutants are suppressed by bar-1/β-catenin mutation, which positively regulates the expression of ceh-12/HB9. Ectopic ceh-12 expression partly underlies the synaptic tiling defects of unc-4 and unc-37 mutants. Our results reveal a novel postmitotic role of neuronal cell fate determinants in synapse pattern formation through inhibiting the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2021-08-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8363302/ /pubmed/34388088 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66011 Text en © 2021, Kurashina et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Developmental Biology
Kurashina, Mizuki
Wang, Jane
Lin, Jeffrey
Lee, Kathy Kyungeun
Johal, Arpun
Mizumoto, Kota
Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans
title Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans
title_full Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans
title_fullStr Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans
title_full_unstemmed Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans
title_short Sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/Groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in C. elegans
title_sort sustained expression of unc-4 homeobox gene and unc-37/groucho in postmitotic neurons specifies the spatial organization of the cholinergic synapses in c. elegans
topic Developmental Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8363302/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34388088
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66011
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