Neuron tracing and quantitative analyses of dendritic architecture reveal symmetrical three-way-junctions and phenotypes of git-1 in C. elegans.

Autor: Yuval O; Faculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.; School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom., Iosilevskii Y; Faculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel., Meledin A; Faculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel., Podbilewicz B; Faculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel., Shemesh T; Faculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PLoS computational biology [PLoS Comput Biol] 2021 Jul 19; Vol. 17 (7), pp. e1009185. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jul 19 (Print Publication: 2021).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009185
Abstrakt: Complex dendritic trees are a distinctive feature of neurons. Alterations to dendritic morphology are associated with developmental, behavioral and neurodegenerative changes. The highly-arborized PVD neuron of C. elegans serves as a model to study dendritic patterning; however, quantitative, objective and automated analyses of PVD morphology are missing. Here, we present a method for neuronal feature extraction, based on deep-learning and fitting algorithms. The extracted neuronal architecture is represented by a database of structural elements for abstracted analysis. We obtain excellent automatic tracing of PVD trees and uncover that dendritic junctions are unevenly distributed. Surprisingly, these junctions are three-way-symmetrical on average, while dendritic processes are arranged orthogonally. We quantify the effect of mutation in git-1, a regulator of dendritic spine formation, on PVD morphology and discover a localized reduction in junctions. Our findings shed new light on PVD architecture, demonstrating the effectiveness of our objective analyses of dendritic morphology and suggest molecular control mechanisms.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Databáze: MEDLINE