Negative regulation and gain control of sensory neurons by the C. elegans calcineurin TAX-6

Neuron. 2002 Feb 28;33(5):751-63. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00607-4.

Abstract

Animals sense and adapt to variable environments by regulating appropriate sensory signal transduction pathways. Here, we show that calcineurin plays a key role in regulating the gain of sensory neuron responsiveness across multiple modalities. C. elegans animals bearing a loss-of-function mutation in TAX-6, a calcineurin A subunit, exhibit pleiotropic abnormalities, including many aberrant sensory behaviors. The tax-6 mutant defect in thermosensation is consistent with hyperactivation of the AFD thermosensory neurons. Conversely, constitutive activation of TAX-6 causes a behavioral phenotype consistent with inactivation of AFD neurons. In olfactory neurons, the impaired olfactory response of tax-6 mutants to an AWC-sensed odorant is caused by hyperadaptation, which is suppressible by a mutation causing defective olfactory adaptation. Taken together, our results suggest that stimulus-evoked calcium entry activates calcineurin, which in turn negatively regulates multiple aspects of sensory signaling.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / cytology
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / physiology*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / chemistry
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
  • Calcineurin / chemistry
  • Calcineurin / genetics
  • Calcineurin / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Ion Channels / genetics
  • Ion Channels / metabolism
  • Locomotion
  • Models, Biological
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism
  • Neurons, Afferent / physiology*
  • Osmolar Concentration
  • Pentanols / metabolism
  • Phenotype
  • Protein Subunits
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Smell / physiology
  • TRPV Cation Channels
  • Thermosensing
  • Transient Receptor Potential Channels

Substances

  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
  • Ion Channels
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • OSM-9 protein, C elegans
  • Pentanols
  • Protein Subunits
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • TRPV Cation Channels
  • Transient Receptor Potential Channels
  • isopentyl alcohol
  • Calcineurin