title: Duplication of a Single Neuron in C. elegans Reveals a Pathway for Dendrite Tiling by Mutual Repulsion.
abstract: Simple cell-cell interactions can give rise to complex cellular patterns. For example, neurons of the same type can interact to create a complex patchwork of non-overlapping dendrite arbors, a pattern known as dendrite tiling. Dendrite tiling often involves mutual repulsion between neighboring neurons. While dendrite tiling is found across nervous systems, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has a relatively simple nervous system with few opportunities for tiling. Here, we show that genetic duplication of a single neuron, PVD, is sufficient to create dendrite tiling among the resulting ectopic neurons. We use laser ablation to show that this tiling is mediated by mutual repulsion between neighbors. Furthermore, we find that tiling requires a repulsion signal (UNC-6/Netrin and its receptors UNC-40/DCC and UNC-5) that normally patterns the PVD dendrite arbor. These results demonstrate that an apparently complex cellular pattern can emerge in a simple nervous system merely by increasing neuron number.
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Zhiqi Candice
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Yip
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: heiman@genetics.med.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Maxwell G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Heiman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins