Integration of Plasticity Mechanisms within a Single Sensory Neuron of C. elegans Actuates a Memory.

ABSTRACT: Neural plasticity, the ability of neurons to change their properties in response to experiences, underpins the nervous system's capacity to form memories and actuate behaviors. How different plasticity mechanisms act together in vivo and at a cellular level to transform sensory information into behavior is not well understood. We show that in Caenorhabditis elegans two plasticity mechanisms-sensory adaptation and presynaptic plasticity-act within a single cell to encode thermosensory information and actuate a temperature preference memory. Sensory adaptation adjusts the temperature range of the sensory neuron (called AFD) to optimize detection of temperature fluctuations associated with migration. Presynaptic plasticity in AFD is regulated by the conserved kinase nPKCε and transforms therm

SUBMITTER: Hawk JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5806692 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature