Regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans neuronal polarity by heterochronic genes.

ABSTRACT: Many neurons display characteristic patterns of synaptic connections that are under genetic control. The Caenorhabditis elegans DA cholinergic motor neurons form synaptic connections only on their dorsal axons. We explored the genetic pathways that specify this polarity by screening for gene inactivations and mutations that disrupt this normal polarity of a DA motorneuron. A RAB-3::GFP fusion protein that is normally localized to presynaptic terminals along the dorsal axon of the DA9 motorneuron was used to screen for gene inactivations that disrupt the DA9 motorneuron polarity. This screen identified heterochronic genes as major regulators of DA neuron presynaptic polarity. In many heterochronic mutants, presynapses of this cholinergic motoneuron are mislocalized to the dendrite at

SUBMITTER: Armakola M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6589651 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature