Dying Neurons Utilize Innate Immune Signaling to Prime Glia for Phagocytosis during Development.

ABSTRACT: Glia continuously survey neuronal health during development, providing trophic support to healthy neurons while rapidly engulfing dying ones. These diametrically opposed functions necessitate a foolproof mechanism enabling glia to unambiguously identify those neurons to support versus those to engulf. To ensure specificity, glia are proposed to interact with dying neurons via a series of carefully choreographed steps. However, these crucial interactions are largely obscure. Here we show that dying neurons and glia communicate via Toll-receptor-regulated innate immune signaling. Neuronal apoptosis drives processing and activation of the Toll-6 ligand, Spätzle5. This cue activates a dSARM-mediated Toll-6 transcriptional pathway in glia, which controls the expression of the Draper engulfment

SUBMITTER: McLaughlin CN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6394877 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature