Journal
ELIFE
Volume 10, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
eLIFE SCIENCES PUBL LTD
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.67170
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Funding
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality [19JC1414100, 18PJ1407600, 18JC1420302]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31741054, 31771154]
- Shanghai Municipal Education Commission [QD2018017]
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NS32196]
- National Institutes of Health [NEI 1R21EY029450-01]
- National Health and Medical Research Council [APP1122351]
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The presence of a male environment in Caenorhabditis elegans increases cholinergic transmission in hermaphrodites, altering their locomotion velocity and mating efficiency. Sensory circuits mediating the perception of male pheromones can modulate synaptic transmission efficacy, ultimately impacting behavioral flexibility.
The development of functional synapses in the nervous system is important for animal physiology and behaviors, and its disturbance has been linked with many neurodevelopmental disorders. The synaptic transmission efficacy can be modulated by the environment to accommodate external changes, which is crucial for animal reproduction and survival. However, the underlying plasticity of synaptic transmission remains poorly understood. Here we show that in Caenorhabditis elegans, the male environment increases the hermaphrodite cholinergic transmission at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), which alters hermaphrodites' locomotion velocity and mating efficiency. We identify that the male-specific pheromones mediate this synaptic transmission modulation effect in a developmental stage-dependent manner. Dissection of the sensory circuits reveals that the AWB chemosensory neurons sense those male pheromones and further transduce the information to NMJ using cGMP signaling. Exposure of hermaphrodites to the male pheromones specifically increases the accumulation of presynaptic CaV2 calcium channels and clustering of postsynaptic acetylcholine receptors at cholinergic synapses of NMJ, which potentiates cholinergic synaptic transmission. Thus, our study demonstrates a circuit mechanism for synaptic modulation and behavioral flexibility by sexual dimorphic pheromones.
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