Decoding the intensity of sensory input by two glutamate receptors in one C. elegans interneuron. Issue 1 (December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zou, Wenjuan; Fu, Jiajun; Zhang, Haining; Du, Kang; Huang, Wenming; Yu, Junwei; Li, Shitian; Fan, Yuedan; Baylis, Howard; Gao, Shangbang; Xiao, Rui; Ji, Wei; Kang, Lijun; Xu, Tao
• Is Part Of: Nature communications. Volume 9:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 12
• Publication Date: 2018-12
• Subjects: Biology -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06819-5
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-1723

Abstract

Abstract How neurons are capable of decoding stimulus intensity and translate this information into complex behavioral outputs is poorly defined. Here, we demonstrate that theC. elegans interneuron AIB regulates two types of behaviors: reversal initiation and feeding suppression in response to different concentrations of quinine. Low concentrations of quinine are decoded in AIB by a low-threshold, fast-inactivation glutamate receptor GLR-1 and translated into reversal initiation. In contrast, high concentrations of quinine are decoded by a high-threshold, slow-inactivation glutamate receptor GLR-5 in AIB. After activation, GLR-5 evokes sustained Ca2+ release from the inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate (IP3 )-sensitive Ca2+ stores and triggers neuropeptide secretion, which in turn activates the downstream neuron RIM and inhibits feeding. Our results reveal that distinct signal patterns in a single interneuron AIB can encode differential behavioral outputs depending on the stimulus intensity, thus highlighting the importance of functional mapping of information propagation at the single-neuron level during connectome construction. Little is known about how stimuli of different intensities result in different behavioral outcomes inC. elegans . In this study, the authors demonstrate how distinct signal patterns, involving different glutamate receptors, in a single interneuron AIB can encode differential behavioral outputs depending on the stimulus intensity