UNC-43/CaMKII-triggered anterograde signals recruit GABAARs to mediate inhibitory synaptic transmission and plasticity at C. elegans NMJs

Yue Hao, Haowen Liu, Xian-Ting Zeng, Ya Wang, Wan-Xin Zeng, Kang-Ying Qian, Lei Li, Ming-Xuan Chi, Shangbang Gao, Zhitao Hu and Xia-Jing Tong ()
Additional contact information
Yue Hao: ShanghaiTech University
Haowen Liu: The University of Queensland
Xian-Ting Zeng: ShanghaiTech University
Ya Wang: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Wan-Xin Zeng: ShanghaiTech University
Kang-Ying Qian: ShanghaiTech University
Lei Li: The University of Queensland
Ming-Xuan Chi: ShanghaiTech University
Shangbang Gao: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Zhitao Hu: The University of Queensland
Xia-Jing Tong: ShanghaiTech University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Disturbed inhibitory synaptic transmission has functional impacts on neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. An essential mechanism for modulating inhibitory synaptic transmission is alteration of the postsynaptic abundance of GABAARs, which are stabilized by postsynaptic scaffold proteins and recruited by presynaptic signals. However, how GABAergic neurons trigger signals to transsynaptically recruit GABAARs remains elusive. Here, we show that UNC-43/CaMKII functions at GABAergic neurons to recruit GABAARs and modulate inhibitory synaptic transmission at C. elegans neuromuscular junctions. We demonstrate that UNC-43 promotes presynaptic MADD-4B/Punctin secretion and NRX-1α/Neurexin surface delivery. Together, MADD-4B and NRX-1α recruit postsynaptic NLG-1/Neuroligin and stabilize GABAARs. Further, the excitation of GABAergic neurons potentiates the recruitment of NLG-1-stabilized-GABAARs, which depends on UNC-43, MADD-4B, and NRX-1. These data all support that UNC-43 triggers MADD-4B and NRX-1α, which act as anterograde signals to recruit postsynaptic GABAARs. Thus, our findings elucidate a mechanism for pre- and postsynaptic communication and inhibitory synaptic transmission and plasticity.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-37137-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-37137-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37137-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().