Locomotion modulates olfactory learning through proprioception in C. elegans

Autor: Xu Zhan, Chao Chen, Longgang Niu, Xinran Du, Ying Lei, Rui Dan, Zhao-Wen Wang, Ping Liu
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nature Communications, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-19 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40286-x
Popis: Abstract Locomotor activities can enhance learning, but the underlying circuit and synaptic mechanisms are largely unknown. Here we show that locomotion facilitates aversive olfactory learning in C. elegans by activating mechanoreceptors in motor neurons, and transmitting the proprioceptive information thus generated to locomotion interneurons through antidromic-rectifying gap junctions. The proprioceptive information serves to regulate experience-dependent activities and functional coupling of interneurons that process olfactory sensory information to produce the learning behavior. Genetic destruction of either the mechanoreceptors in motor neurons, the rectifying gap junctions between the motor neurons and locomotion interneurons, or specific inhibitory synapses among the interneurons impairs the aversive olfactory learning. We have thus uncovered an unexpected role of proprioception in a specific learning behavior as well as the circuit, synaptic, and gene bases for this function.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals