Author:
Chuang Chiou-Fen,Bargmann Cornelia I.
Abstract
A stochastic lateral signaling interaction between two developing Caenorhabditis elegans AWC olfactory neurons causes them to take on asymmetric patterns of odorant receptor expression, called AWCOFF and AWCON. Here we show that the AWC lateral signaling gene tir-1 (previously known as nsy-2) encodes a conserved post-synaptic protein that specifies the choice between AWCOFF and AWCON. Genetic evidence suggests that tir-1 acts downstream of a voltage-gated calcium channel and CaMKII (UNC-43) to regulate AWC asymmetry via the NSY-1(ASK1) p38/JNK MAP (mitogen-activated protein) kinase cascade. TIR-1 localizes NSY-1 to post-synaptic regions of AWC, and TIR-1 binds UNC-43, suggesting that it assembles a synaptic signaling complex that regulates odorant receptor expression. Temperature-shift experiments indicate that tir-1 affects AWC during a critical period late in embryogenesis, near the time of AWC synapse formation. TIR-1 is a multidomain protein with a TIR (Toll-interleukin-1 receptor) domain that activates signaling, SAM repeats that mediate localization to post-synaptic regions of axons, and an N-terminal inhibitory domain. TIR-1 and other TIR proteins are implicated in vertebrate and invertebrate innate immunity, as are NSY-1/ASK1 kinases, so this pathway may also have a conserved function in immune signaling.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Subject
Developmental Biology,Genetics
Cited by
162 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献