Differential adhesion regulates neurite placement via a retrograde zippering mechanism. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • During development, neurites and synapses segregate into specific neighborhoods or layers within nerve bundles. The developmental programs guiding placement of neurites in specific layers, and hence their incorporation into specific circuits, are not well understood. We implement novel imaging methods and quantitative models to document the embryonic development of the C. elegans brain neuropil, and discover that differential adhesion mechanisms control precise placement of single neurites onto specific layers. Differential adhesion is orchestrated via developmentally regulated expression of the IgCAM SYG-1, and its partner ligand SYG-2. Changes in SYG-1 expression across neuropil layers result in changes in adhesive forces, which sort SYG-2-expressing neurons. Sorting to layers occurs, not via outgrowth from the neurite tip, but via an alternate mechanism of retrograde zippering, involving interactions between neurite shafts. Our study indicates that biophysical principles from differential adhesion govern neurite placement and synaptic specificity in vivo in developing neuropil bundles.

publication date

  • November 16, 2021

Research

keywords

  • Brain
  • Caenorhabditis elegans
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
  • Cell Adhesion
  • Neurites

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC8843091

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85120158907

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.019

PubMed ID

  • 34783657

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 10