The PVD neuron has male-specific structure and mating function in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>.

ABSTRACT: Neurons display unique shapes and establish intricate networks, which may differ between sexes. In complex organisms, studying sex differences in structure and function of individual neurons is difficult. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites and males present an exceptional model for studying neuronal morphogenesis in a simple, sexually dimorphic system. We focus on the polymodal sensory bilateral neuron pair PVD, which forms a complex but stereotypic dendritic tree composed of multiple subunits that resemble candelabra. PVD is well studied in hermaphrodites, but not in males. We show here that during larval development, male PVD extends a similar architecture to the hermaphrodite utilizing the sexually shared Menorin patterning mechanism. In early adulthood, however,

SUBMITTER: Iosilevskii Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12002248 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature