Abstract
Complex dendritic trees are a distinctive feature of neurons. Alterations to dendritic morphology are associated with developmental, behavioral and neurodegenerative changes. The highly-arborized PVD neuron of C. elegans serves as a model to study dendritic patterning; however, quantitative, objective and automated analyses of PVD morphology are missing. Here, we present a method for neuronal feature extraction, based on deep-learning and fitting algorithms. The extracted neuronal architecture is represented by a database of structural elements for abstracted analysis. We obtain excellent automatic tracing of PVD trees and uncover that dendritic junctions are unevenly distributed. Surprisingly, these junctions are three-way-symmetrical on average, while dendritic processes are arranged orthogonally. We quantify the effect of mutation in git-1, a regulator of dendritic spine formation, on PVD morphology and discover a localized reduction in junctions. Our findings shed new light on PVD architecture, demonstrating the effectiveness of our objective analyses of dendritic morphology and suggest molecular control mechanisms.
Highlights
The link between the information processing function of neurons and the intricate shapes of their dendritic processes has been the subject of over a century of extensive study [1,2,3]
We present an algorithmic approach for detection and classification of the treelike dendrites of the PVD neuron in C. elegans worms
We have found that the junctions connecting branched dendrites have a three-way-symmetry, the dendrites are arranged in a crosshatch pattern, and that the distribution of junctions varies across distinct sub-classes of the PVD’s dendritic tree
Summary
The link between the information processing function of neurons and the intricate shapes of their dendritic processes has been the subject of over a century of extensive study [1,2,3]. The C. elegans bilateral PVD neuron has become a powerful model to study dendritic patterning, owing greatly to its stereotypical, highly ordered structure in the fourth larval stage and young adult (Fig 1A) [17]. By late L4 (typically within ~30 hours at 20 ̊C), their complex dendritic arbor of repeating candelabra-shaped units extends almost the entire surface area of the worm [17,18]. This highly organized structure is made of tubular processes with diameters ranging between 35–60 nm [17,18,20]. The relatively complex and high-order arborization of the PVD makes it an excellent model for studying the connection between structure and function in the nervous system [9,17,18,26,27,28]
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