CaMKII mediates sexually dimorphic synaptic transmission at neuromuscular junctions in C. elegans.
J Cell Biol
; 222(11)2023 11 06.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37624117
ABSTRACT
Sexually dimorphic behaviors are ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom. Although both sex-specific and sex-shared neurons have been functionally implicated in these diverse behaviors, less is known about the roles of sex-shared neurons. Here, we discovered sexually dimorphic cholinergic synaptic transmission in C. elegans occurring at neuromuscular junctions (NMJs), with males exhibiting increased release frequencies, which result in sexually dimorphic locomotion behaviors. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that males have significantly more synaptic vesicles (SVs) at their cholinergic synapses than hermaphrodites. Analysis of previously published transcriptome identified the male-enriched transcripts and focused our attention on UNC-43/CaMKII. We ultimately show that differential accumulation of UNC-43 at cholinergic neurons controls axonal SV abundance and synaptic transmission. Finally, we demonstrate that sex reversal of all neurons in hermaphrodites generates male-like cholinergic transmission and locomotion behaviors. Thus, beyond demonstrating UNC-43/CaMKII as an essential mediator of sex-specific synaptic transmission, our study provides molecular and cellular insights into how sex-shared neurons can generate sexually dimorphic locomotion behaviors.
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MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Caenorhabditis elegans
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Transmissão Sináptica
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Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans
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Proteína Quinase Tipo 2 Dependente de Cálcio-Calmodulina
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Junção Neuromuscular
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article