Modular control of glutamatergic neuronal identity in C. elegans by distinct homeodomain proteins.
The choice of using one of many possible neurotransmitter systems is a critical step in defining the identity of an individual neuron type. We show here that the key defining feature of glutamatergic neurons, the vesicular glutamate transporter EAT-4/VGLUT, is expressed in 38 of the 118 anatomically defined neuron classes of the C. elegans nervous system. We show that distinct cis-regulatory modules drive expression of eat-4/VGLUT in distinct glutamatergic neuron classes. We identify 13 different transcription factors, 11 of them homeodomain proteins, that act in distinct combinations in 25 different glutamatergic neuron classes to initiate and maintain eat-4/VGLUT expression. We show that the adoption of a glutamatergic phenotype is linked to the adoption of other terminal identity features of a neuron, including cotransmitter phenotypes. Examination of mouse orthologs of these homeodomain proteins resulted in the identification of mouse LHX1 as a regulator of glutamatergic neurons in the brainstem.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, HHMI, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA. Electronic address: es2754@columbia.edu.
Esther
E
Serrano-Saiz
Richard J
RJ
Poole
Terry
T
Felton
Feifan
F
Zhang
Estanisla Daniel
ED
De La Cruz
Oliver
O
Hobert
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate / Q000378:metabolism*; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D050496:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Proteins
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C500224:Eat-4 protein, C elegans; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate; D014157:Transcription Factors; D050496:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Proteins