RRC ID 51528
Author Sood P, Murthy K, Kumar V, Nonet ML, Menon GI, Koushika SP.
Title Cargo crowding at actin-rich regions along axons causes local traffic jams.
Journal Traffic
Abstract Steady axonal cargo flow is central to the functioning of healthy neurons. However, a substantial fraction of cargo in axons remains stationary up to several minutes. We examine the transport of precursors of synaptic vesicles (pre-SVs), endosomes and mitochondria in Caenorhabditis elegans touch receptor neurons, showing that stationary cargo are predominantly present at actin-rich regions along the neuronal process. Stationary vesicles at actin-rich regions increase the propensity of moving vesicles to stall at the same location, resulting in traffic jams arising from physical crowding. Such local traffic jams at actin-rich regions are likely to be a general feature of axonal transport since they also occur in Drosophila neurons. Repeated touch stimulation of C. elegans reduces the density of stationary pre-SVs, indicating that these traffic jams can act as both sources and sinks of vesicles. This suggests that vesicles trapped in actin-rich regions are functional reservoirs that may contribute to maintaining robust cargo flow in the neuron. A video abstract of this article can be found at: Video S1; Video S2.
Volume 19(3)
Pages 166-181
Published 2018-3-1
DOI 10.1111/tra.12544
PMID 29178177
MeSH Actins / metabolism Animals Axonal Transport* Caenorhabditis elegans Drosophila Endosomes / metabolism Mitochondria / metabolism Synaptic Vesicles / metabolism
IF 4.045
Times Cited 8
Resource
C.elegans tm1552