The neuron-intrinsic membrane skeleton is required for motor neuron integrity throughout lifespan.

ABSTRACT: Axons experience physical stress throughout an organism's lifetime, and disruptions in axonal integrity are hallmarks of both neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic injuries. The spectrin-based membrane periodic skeleton (MPS) is proposed to have a crucial role in maintaining axonal strength, flexibility, and resilience. To investigate the importance of the intrinsic MPS for GABAergic motor neuron integrity in C. elegans, we employed the auxin-inducible degron system to degrade β-spectrin/UNC-70 in a cell-type specific and time-dependent manner. Degradation of β-spectrin from all neurons beginning at larval development resulted in widespread axon breakage and regeneration in VD/DD GABAergic motor neurons in both larval and adult animals. Similarly, targeted degradation of β-spectr

SUBMITTER: Davison CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11888272 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature