Ethanol Stimulates Locomotion via a Gαs-Signaling Pathway in IL2 Neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans

A Caenorhabditis elegans model of autosomal dominant adult-onset neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis identifies ethosuximide as a potential therapeutic

Autosomal dominant adult-onset neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (ANCL) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive dementia and premature death. Four ANCL-causing mutations have been identified, all mapping to the DNAJC5 gene that encodes cysteine string protein α (CSPα). Here, using Caenorhabditis elegans, we describe an animal model of ANCL in which disease-causing mutations are introduced into their endogenous chromosomal locus, thereby mirroring the human genetic disorder. This was achieved through CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing of dnj-14, the C. elegans ortholog of DNAJC5. The resultant homozygous ANCL mutant worms exhibited reduced lifespans and severely impaired chemotaxis, similar to isogenic dnj-14 null mutants. Importantly, these phenotypes were also seen in balanced heterozygotes carrying one wild-type and one ANCL mutant dnj-14 allele, mimicking the heterozygosity of ANCL patients. We observed a more severe chemotaxis phenotype in heterozygous ANCL mutant worms compared with haploinsufficient worms lacking one copy of CSP, consistent with a dominant-negative mechanism of action. Additionally, we provide evidence of CSP haploinsufficiency in longevity, as heterozygous null mutants exhibited significantly shorter lifespan than wild-type controls. The chemotaxis phenotype of dnj-14 null mutants was fully rescued by transgenic human CSPα, confirming the translational relevance of the worm model. Finally, a focused compound screen revealed that the anti-epileptic drug ethosuximide could restore chemotaxis in dnj-14 ANCL mutants to wild-type levels. This suggests that ethosuximide may have therapeutic potential for ANCL and demonstrates the utility of this C. elegans model for future larger-scale drug screening.

From Natural Behavior to Drug Screening: Invertebrates as Models to Study Mechanisms Associated with Alcohol Use Disorders

Humans consume ethanol-containing beverages, which may cause an uncontrollable or difficult-to-control intake of ethanol-containing liquids and may result in alcohol use disorders. How the transition at the molecular level from "normal" ethanol-associated behaviors to addictive behaviors occurs is still unknown. One problem is that the components contributing to normal ethanol intake and their underlying molecular adaptations, especially in neurons that regulate behavior, are not clear. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the earthworm Caenorhabditis elegans show behavioral similarities to humans such as signs of intoxication, tolerance, and withdrawal. Underlying the phenotypic similarities, invertebrates and vertebrates share mechanistic similarities. For example in Drosophila melanogaster, the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system regulates the positive reinforcing properties of ethanol and in Caenorhabditis elegans, serotonergic neurons regulate feeding behavior. Since these mechanisms are fundamental molecular mechanisms and are highly conserved, invertebrates are good models for uncovering the basic principles of neuronal adaptation underlying the behavioral response to ethanol. This review will focus on the following aspects that might shed light on the mechanisms underlying normal ethanol-associated behaviors. First, the current status of what is required at the behavioral and cellular level to respond to naturally occurring levels of ethanol is summarized. Low levels of ethanol delay the development and activate compensatory mechanisms that in turn might be beneficial for some aspects of the animal's physiology. Repeated exposure to ethanol however might change brain structures involved in mediating learning and memory processes. The smell of ethanol is already a key component in the environment that is able to elicit behavioral changes and molecular programs. Minimal networks have been identified that regulate normal ethanol consumption. Other environmental factors that influence ethanol-induced behaviors include the diet, dietary supplements, and the microbiome. Second, the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal adaptation to the cellular stressor ethanol are discussed. Components of the heat shock and oxidative stress pathways regulate adaptive responses to low levels of ethanol and in turn change behavior. The adaptive potential of the brain cells is challenged when the organism encounters additional cellular stressors caused by aging, endosymbionts or environmental toxins or excessive ethanol intake. Finally, to underline the conserved nature of these mechanisms between invertebrates and higher organisms, recent approaches to identify drug targets for ethanol-induced behaviors are provided. Already approved drugs regulate ethanol-induced behaviors and they do so in part by interfering with cellular stress pathways. In addition, invertebrates have been used to identify new compounds targeting molecules involved in the regulation in ethanol withdrawal-like symptoms. This review primarily highlights the advances of the last 5 years concerning Drosophila melanogaster, but also provides intriguing examples of Caenorhabditis elegans and Apis mellifera in support.

C. elegans dkf-1 (Protein Kinase D1) mutants have age-dependent defects in locomotion and neuromuscular transmission

Changes in neuronal function that occur with age are an area of increasing importance. A potential significant contributor to age-dependent decline may be alterations to neurotransmitter release. Protein kinases, such as Protein Kinase C and Protein Kinase A, are well characterised modulators of neuronal function and neurotransmission. Protein Kinase D (PRKD) is a serine/threonine kinase whose role in neurons is less well characterised. Here we report that mutations in the C. elegans PRKD homolog, dkf-1 , show an acceleration in age-dependent decline of locomotion rate and an alteration to age-dependent changes in aldicarb sensitivity. These effects could be explained by a pre- or post-synaptic function of the protein kinase as the animal ages.

High-performance optical control of GPCR signaling by bistable animal opsins MosOpn3 and LamPP in a molecular property-dependent manner

Optical control of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling is a highly valuable approach for comprehensive understanding of GPCR-based physiologies and controlling them precisely. However, optogenetics for GPCR signaling is still developing and requires effective and versatile tools with performance evaluation from their molecular properties. Here, we systematically investigated performance of two bistable opsins that activate Gi/Go-type G protein (mosquito Opn3 (MosOpn3) and lamprey parapinopsin (LamPP)) in optical control in vivo using Caenorhabditis elegans. Transgenic worms expressing MosOpn3, which binds 13-cis retinal to form photopigments, in nociceptor neurons showed light-induced avoidance responses in the presence of all-trans retinal, a retinal isomer ubiquitously present in every tissue, like microbial rhodopsins and unlike canonical vertebrate opsins. Remarkably, transgenic worms expressing MosOpn3 were ~7,000 times more sensitive to light than transgenic worms expressing ChR2 in this light-induced behavior, demonstrating the advantage of MosOpn3 as a light switch. LamPP is a UV-sensitive bistable opsin having complete photoregenerative ability by green light. Accordingly, transgenic worms expressing LamPP in cholinergic motor neurons stopped moving upon violet light illumination and restored coordinate movement upon green light illumination, demonstrating color-dependent control of behavior using LamPP. Furthermore, we applied molecular engineering to produce MosOpn3-based tools enabling light-dependent upregulation of cAMP or Ca²⁺ levels and LamPP-based tool enabling clamping cAMP levels color dependently and context independently, extending their usability. These findings define the capacity of two bistable opsins with similar retinal requirement as ChR2, providing numerous strategies for optical control of various GPCR-based physiologies as well as GPCR signaling itself.

Kinesin-2 motors differentially impact biogenesis of extracellular vesicle subpopulations shed from sensory cilia

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are bioactive lipid-bilayer enclosed particles released from nearly all cells. One specialized site for EV shedding is the primary cilium. Here, we discover the conserved ion channel CLHM-1 as a ciliary EV cargo. Imaging of EVs released from sensory neuron cilia of Caenorhabditis elegans expressing fluorescently tagged CLHM-1 and TRP polycystin-2 channel PKD-2 shows enrichment of these cargoes in distinct EV subpopulations that are differentially shed in response to mating partner availability. PKD-2 alone is present in EVs shed from the cilium distal tip, whereas CLHM-1 EVs bud from a secondary site(s), including the ciliary base. Heterotrimeric and homodimeric kinesin-2 motors have discrete impacts on PKD-2 and CLHM-1 colocalization in both cilia and EVs. Total loss of kinesin-2 activity decreases shedding of PKD-2 but not CLHM-1 EVs. Our data demonstrate that anterograde intraflagellar transport is required for selective enrichment of protein cargoes into heterogeneous EVs with different signaling potentials.

Functional Insights into Protein Kinase A (PKA) Signaling from C. elegans

Protein kinase A (PKA), which regulates a diverse set of biological functions downstream of cyclic AMP (cAMP), is a tetramer consisting of two catalytic subunits (PKA-C) and two regulatory subunits (PKA-R). When cAMP binds the PKA-R subunits, the PKA-C subunits are released and interact with downstream effectors. In Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), PKA-C and PKA-R are encoded by kin-1 and kin-2, respectively. This review focuses on the contributions of work in C. elegans to our understanding of the many roles of PKA, including contractility and oocyte maturation in the reproductive system, lipid metabolism, physiology, mitochondrial function and lifespan, and a wide variety of behaviors. C. elegans provides a powerful genetic platform for understanding how this kinase can regulate an astounding variety of physiological responses.

Transcriptional analysis of the response of C. elegans to ethanol exposure

Ethanol-induced transcriptional changes underlie important physiological responses to ethanol that are likely to contribute to the addictive properties of the drug. We examined the transcriptional responses of Caenorhabditis elegans across a timecourse of ethanol exposure, between 30 min and 8 h, to determine what genes and genetic pathways are regulated in response to ethanol in this model. We found that short exposures to ethanol (up to 2 h) induced expression of metabolic enzymes involved in metabolizing ethanol and retinol, while longer exposure (8 h) had much more profound effects on the transcriptome. Several genes that are known to be involved in the physiological response to ethanol, including direct ethanol targets, were regulated at 8 h of exposure. This longer exposure to ethanol also resulted in the regulation of genes involved in cilia function, which is consistent with an important role for the effects of ethanol on cilia in the deleterious effects of chronic ethanol consumption in humans. Finally, we found that food deprivation for an 8-h period induced gene expression changes that were somewhat ameliorated by the presence of ethanol, supporting previous observations that worms can use ethanol as a calorie source.

The tubulin code specializes neuronal cilia for extracellular vesicle release

Cilia are microtubule-based organelles that display diversity in morphology, ultrastructure, protein composition, and function. The ciliary microtubules of C. elegans sensory neurons exemplify this diversity and provide a paradigm to understand mechanisms driving ciliary specialization. Only a subset of ciliated neurons in C. elegans are specialized to make and release bioactive extracellular vesicles (EVs) into the environment. The cilia of extracellular vesicle releasing neurons have distinct axonemal features and specialized intraflagellar transport that are important for releasing EVs. In this review, we discuss the role of the tubulin code in the specialization of microtubules in cilia of EV releasing neurons.

What about the males? the C. elegans sexually dimorphic nervous system and a CRISPR-based tool to study males in a hermaphroditic species

Sexual dimorphism is a device that supports genetic diversity while providing selective pressure against speciation. This phenomenon is at the core of sexually reproducing organisms. Caenorhabditis elegans provides a unique experimental system where males exist in a primarily hermaphroditic species. Early works of John Sulston, Robert Horvitz, and John White provided a complete map of the hermaphrodite nervous system, and recently the male nervous system was added. This addition completely realized the vision of C. elegans pioneer Sydney Brenner: a model organism with an entirely mapped nervous system. With this 'connectome' of information available, great strides have been made toward understanding concepts such as how a sex-shared nervous system (in hermaphrodites and males) can give rise to sex-specific functions, how neural plasticity plays a role in developing a dimorphic nervous system, and how a shared nervous system receives and processes external cues in a sexually-dimorphic manner to generate sex-specific behaviors. In C. elegans, the intricacies of male-mating behavior have been crucial for studying the function and circuitry of the male-specific nervous system and used as a model for studying human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). With the emergence of CRISPR, a seemingly limitless tool for generating genomic mutations with pinpoint precision, the C. elegans model system will continue to be a useful instrument for pioneering research in the fields of behavior, reproductive biology, and neurogenetics.

Persistent effects of cyclic adenosine monophosphate are directly responsible for maintaining a neural network state

Network states are often determined by modulators that alter the synaptic and cellular properties of the constituent neurons. Frequently neuromodulators act via second messengers, consequently their effects can persist. This persistence at the cellular/molecular level determines the maintenance of the state at the network level. Here we study a feeding network in Aplysia. In this network, persistent modulation supports the maintenance of an ingestive state, biasing the network to generate ingestive motor programs. Neuropeptides that exert cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) dependent effects play an important role in inducing the ingestive state. Most commonly, modulatory effects exerted through cAMP signaling are persistent as a consequence of PKA activation. This is not the case in the neurons we study. Instead maintenance of the network state depends on the persistence of cAMP itself. Data strongly suggest that this is a consequence of the direct activation of a cyclic nucleotide gated current.

Cell type-specific structural plasticity of the ciliary transition zone in C. elegans

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The current consensus on cilia development posits that the ciliary transition zone (TZ) is formed via extension of nine centrosomal microtubules. In this model, TZ structure remains unchanged in microtubule number throughout the cilium life cycle. This model does not however explain structural variations of TZ structure seen in nature and could also lend itself to the misinterpretation that deviations from nine-doublet microtubule ultrastructure represent an abnormal phenotype. Thus, a better understanding of events that occur at the TZ in vivo during metazoan development is required.

RESULTS

To address this issue, we characterized ultrastructure of two types of sensory cilia in developing Caenorhabditis elegans. We discovered that, in cephalic male (CEM) and inner labial quadrant (IL2Q) sensory neurons, ciliary TZs are structurally plastic and remodel from one structure to another during animal development. The number of microtubule doublets forming the TZ can be increased or decreased over time, depending on cilia type. Both cases result in structural TZ intermediates different from TZ in cilia of adult animals. In CEM cilia, axonemal extension and maturation occurs concurrently with TZ structural maturation.

CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE

Our work extends the current model to include the structural plasticity of metazoan transition zone, which can be structurally delayed, maintained or remodelled in cell type-specific manner.