C. elegans neurons have functional dendritic spines
- Vanderbilt University, United States
- University of Toronto, Canada
Abstract
Dendritic spines are specialized postsynaptic structures that transduce presynaptic signals, are regulated by neural activity and correlated with learning and memory. Most studies of spine function have focused on the mammalian nervous system. However, spine-like protrusions have been reported in C. elegans (Philbrook et al. 2018), suggesting that the experimental advantages of smaller model organisms could be exploited to study the biology of dendritic spines. Here, we used super-resolution microscopy, electron microscopy, live-cell imaging and genetics to show that C. elegans motor neurons have functional dendritic spines that: (1) are structurally defined by a dynamic actin cytoskeleton; (2) appose presynaptic dense projections; (3) localize ER and ribosomes; (4) display calcium transients triggered by presynaptic activity and propagated by internal Ca++ stores; (5) respond to activity-dependent signals that regulate spine density. These studies provide a solid foundation for a new experimental paradigm that exploits the power of C. elegans genetics and live-cell imaging for fundamental studies of dendritic spine morphogenesis and function.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Figures 1, 4 and 5.
Article and author information
Author details
Andrea Cuentas-Condori
Funding
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS081259)
- David M Miller
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS106951)
- David M Miller
American Heart Association (18PRE33960581)
- Andrea Cuentas-Condori
National Science Foundation (DGE:1445197)
- Sierra Palumbos
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (FS154274)
- Mei Zhen
American Heart Association (19PRE34380582)
- Sierra Palumbos
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2019, Cuentas-Condori et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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C. elegans neurons have functional dendritic spines
eLife 8:e47918.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47918
