Using expression profiles of Caenorhabditis elegans neurons to identify genes that mediate synaptic connectivity

Synaptic wiring of neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans is largely invariable between animals. It has been suggested that this feature stems from genetically encoded molecular markers that guide the neurons in the final stage of synaptic formation. Identifying these markers and unraveling the logic by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS computational biology 2008-07, Vol.4 (7), p.e1000120-e1000120
Main Authors: Baruch, Leehod, Itzkovitz, Shalev, Golan-Mashiach, Michal, Shapiro, Ehud, Segal, Eran
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics
Caenorhabditis elegans - physiology
Computational Biology/Computational Neuroscience
Developmental Biology/Neurodevelopment
Gene expression
Gene Expression Profiling
Genetics
Nematoda
Nematodes
Neurons
Neurons - metabolism
Neuroscience/Neurodevelopment
Studies
Synaptic Transmission
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Summary:Synaptic wiring of neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans is largely invariable between animals. It has been suggested that this feature stems from genetically encoded molecular markers that guide the neurons in the final stage of synaptic formation. Identifying these markers and unraveling the logic by which they direct synapse formation is a key challenge. Here, we address this task by constructing a probabilistic model that attempts to explain the neuronal connectivity diagram of C. elegans as a function of the expression patterns of its neurons. By only considering neuron pairs that are known to be connected by chemical or electrical synapses, we focus on the final stage of synapse formation, in which neurons identify their designated partners. Our results show that for many neurons the neuronal expression map of C. elegans can be used to accurately predict the subset of adjacent neurons that will be chosen as its postsynaptic partners. Notably, these predictions can be achieved using the expression patterns of only a small number of specific genes that interact in a combinatorial fashion.
ISSN:1553-7358
1553-734X
1553-7358
DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000120