RRC ID 75929
Author Choi JH, Horowitz LB, Ringstad N.
Title Opponent vesicular transporters regulate the strength of glutamatergic neurotransmission in a C. elegans sensory circuit.
Journal Nat Commun
Abstract At chemical synapses, neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles that release their contents in response to depolarization. Despite its central role in synaptic function, regulation of the machinery that loads vesicles with neurotransmitters remains poorly understood. We find that synaptic glutamate signaling in a C. elegans chemosensory circuit is regulated by antagonistic interactions between the canonical vesicular glutamate transporter EAT-4/VGLUT and another vesicular transporter, VST-1. Loss of VST-1 strongly potentiates glutamate release from chemosensory BAG neurons and disrupts chemotaxis behavior. Analysis of the circuitry downstream of BAG neurons shows that excess glutamate release disrupts behavior by inappropriately recruiting RIA interneurons to the BAG-associated chemotaxis circuit. Our data indicate that in vivo the strength of glutamatergic synapses is controlled by regulation of neurotransmitter packaging into synaptic vesicles via functional coupling of VGLUT and VST-1.
Volume 12(1)
Pages 6334
Published 2021-11-3
DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-26575-3
PII 10.1038/s41467-021-26575-3
PMID 34732711
PMC PMC8566550
MeSH Animals Animals, Genetically Modified Biological Transport* Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism* Glutamic Acid / metabolism* Interneurons / metabolism Locomotion Neurons Sequence Alignment Synapses / metabolism Synaptic Transmission / genetics Synaptic Transmission / physiology* Synaptic Vesicles / metabolism Vesicular Glutamate Transport Proteins / metabolism
Resource
C.elegans tm2816