Abstract
Animals sample their environment through sensory neurons with often elaborately branched endings named dendritic arbors. In a genetic screen for genes involved in the development of the highly arborized somatosensory PVD neuron in C. elegans, we have identified mutations in kpc-1, which encodes the homolog of the proprotein convertase furin. We show that kpc-1/furin is necessary to promote the formation of higher order dendritic branches in PVD and to ensure self-avoidance of sister branches, but is likely not required during maintenance of dendritic arbors. A reporter for kpc-1/furin is expressed in neurons (including PVD) and kpc-1/furin can function cell-autonomously in PVD neurons to control patterning of dendritic arbors. Moreover, we show that kpc-1/furin also regulates the development of other neurons in all major neuronal classes in C. elegans, including aspects of branching and extension of neurites as well as cell positioning. Our data suggest that these developmental functions require proteolytic activity of KPC-1/furin. Recently, the skin-derived MNR-1/menorin and the neural cell adhesion molecule SAX-7/L1CAM have been shown to act as a tripartite complex with the leucine rich transmembrane receptor DMA-1 on PVD mechanosensory to orchestrate the patterning of dendritic branches. Genetic analyses show that kpc-1/furin functions in a pathway with MNR-1/menorin, SAX-7/L1CAM and DMA-1 to control dendritic branch formation and extension of PVD neurons. We propose that KPC-1/furin acts in concert with the ‘menorin’ pathway to control branching and growth of somatosensory dendrites in PVD.
Highlights
Multicellular organisms sense their environment through specialized nerve cells termed sensory neurons
We discovered an important role for the protein-processing enzyme KPC-1/furin in the development of touch-sensitive dendritic trees in the roundworm C. elegans
We further show that the gene encoding KPC-1 is expressed widely in the nervous system and that it is required within the branching neuron to exert its function on dendritic growth
Summary
Multicellular organisms sense their environment through specialized nerve cells termed sensory neurons. The diversity in shape and structure that dendrites of sensory neurons (hereafter named ‘dendritic arbors’) assume reflects the variety of stimuli they receive [1]. Work over the past two decades has established that dendritic arbor development of sensory neurons relies on conserved molecular mechanisms [2,3]. Dendritic arbors do exist in the periphery, and in the central nervous system where they function to receive synaptic input from other neurons. The molecules and mechanisms that orchestrate dendritic arbor development, e.g. cell adhesion molecules and molecular motor proteins, are often similar between the peripheral and central nervous system [see ref. Failed dendrite development has been linked to neurological diseases of the central nervous system, ranging from Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to Schizophrenia [4,5]
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