Phagocytosis and self-destruction break down dendrites of Drosophila sensory neurons at distinct steps of Wallerian degeneration.

ABSTRACT: After injury, severed dendrites and axons expose the "eat-me" signal phosphatidylserine (PS) on their surface while they break down. The degeneration of injured axons is controlled by a conserved Wallerian degeneration (WD) pathway, which is thought to activate neurite self-destruction through Sarm-mediated nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) depletion. While neurite PS exposure is known to be affected by genetic manipulations of NAD⁺, how the WD pathway coordinates both neurite PS exposure and self-destruction and whether PS-induced phagocytosis contributes to neurite breakdown in vivo remain unknown. Here, we show that in Drosophila sensory dendrites, PS exposure and self-destruction are two sequential steps of WD resulting from Sarm activation. Surprisi

SUBMITTER: Ji H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8795528 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature