Male-specific features of<i>C. elegans</i>neuronal aging

Weng, Yifei; Murphy, Coleen T.

doi:10.1101/2023.12.18.572229

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…We previously used pan-neuronal transcriptional profiling to identify genes whose expression is high in young wild-type neurons and declines with age 16 . These genes are enriched in neuronal and synaptic function 16,54 , and their downregulation with age correlates with behavioral deficits that rise with age. With the exception of the ubiquitously-downregulated lysozyme ilys-5 (Extended Data Fig.…”

Section: Genes That Normally Decline With Age Are Upregulated In Daf-...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult Single-nucleus Neuronal Transcriptomes of Insulin Signaling Mutants Reveal Regulators of Behavior and Learning

Ange,

Weng,

Stevenson

et al. 2024

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The insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) pathway regulates many ofC. elegans′ adult functions, including learning and memory1. While whole-worm and tissue-specific transcriptomic analyses have identified IIS targets2,3, a higher-resolution single-cell approach is required to identify changes that confer neuron-specific improvements in the long-lived insulin receptor mutant,daf-2. To understand how behaviors that are controlled by a small number of neurons change indaf-2mutants, we used the deep resolution of single-nucleus RNA sequencing to define each neuron type′s transcriptome in adult wild-type anddaf-2mutants. First, we found surprising differences between wild-type L4 larval neurons and young adult neurons in chemoreceptor expression, synaptic genes, and learning and memory genes. These Day 1 adult neuron transcriptomes allowed us to identify adult AWC-specific regulators of chemosensory function and to predict neuron-to-neuron peptide/receptor pairs. We then identified gene expression changes that correlate withdaf-2′s improved cognitive functions, particularly in the AWC sensory neuron that controls learning and associative memory4, and used behavioral assays to test their roles in cognitive function. Combining deep single-neuron transcriptomics, genetic manipulation, and behavioral analyses enabled us to identify genes that may function in a single adult neuron to control behavior, including conserved genes that function in learning and memory.

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Section: Genes That Normally Decline With Age Are Upregulated In Daf-...mentioning

confidence: 99%