Sexually Dimorphic Differentiation of a C. elegans Hub Neuron Is Cell Autonomously Controlled by a Conserved Transcription Factor.

ABSTRACT: Functional and anatomical sexual dimorphisms in the brain are either the result of cells that are generated only in one sex or a manifestation of sex-specific differentiation of neurons present in both sexes. The PHC neuron pair of the nematode C. elegans differentiates in a strikingly sex-specific manner. In hermaphrodites the PHC neurons display a canonical pattern of synaptic connectivity similar to that of other sensory neurons, but in males PHC differentiates into a densely connected hub sensory neuron/interneuron, integrating a large number of male-specific synaptic inputs and conveying them to both male-specific and sex-shared circuitry. We show that the differentiation into such a hub neuron involves the sex-specific scaling of several components of the synaptic vesicle machinery,

SUBMITTER: Serrano-Saiz E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5805387 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature