Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans.

Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans. Research Abstract Details 

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Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans. Abstract Text:

BACKGROUND: Nervous systems are largely bilaterally symmetric on a morphological level but often display striking degrees of functional left/right (L/R) asymmetry. How L/R asymmetric functional features are superimposed onto an essentially bilaterally symmetric structure and how nervous-system laterality relates to the L/R asymmetry of internal organs are poorly understood. We address these questions here by using the establishment of L/R asymmetry in the ASE chemosensory neurons of C. elegans as a paradigm. This bilaterally symmetric neuron pair is functionally lateralized in that it senses a distinct class of chemosensory cues and expresses a putative chemoreceptor family in a L/R asymmetric manner. RESULTS: We show that the directionality of the asymmetry of the two postmitotic ASE neurons ASE left (ASEL) and ASE right (ASER) in adults is dependent on a L-/R-symmetry-breaking event at a very early embryonic stage, the six-cell stage, which also establishes the L/R asymmetric placement of internal organs. However, the L/R asymmetry of the ASE neurons per se is dependent on an even earlier anterior-posterior (A/P) Notch signal that specifies embryonic ABa/ABp blastomere identities at the four-cell stage. This Notch signal, which functions through two T box genes, acts genetically upstream of a miRNA-controlled bistable feedback loop that regulates the L/R asymmetric gene-expression program in the postmitotic ASE cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results link adult neuronal laterality to the generation of the A/P axis at the two-cell stage and raise the possibility that neural asymmetries observed across the animal kingdom are similarly established by very early embryonic interactions.

Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans. Publishing Authors By Initials

For similar nervous system: neurons research abstracts see: nervous system: neurons research

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Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans. Journal Published:

PUBLICATION TYPE: Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov

Journal: Current biology : CB

VOLUME: 16

Page Numbers: 2279-92

Journal Abbreviation: Curr. Biol.

ISSN: 0960-9822

DAY: 5

MONTH: Dec

YEAR: 2006

Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans. Information

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LANGUAGE: eng

NlmUniqueID: 9107782

Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans. Keywords Mesh Terms:

KEYWORDS: Neurons

MESH TERMS: physiology

Chemical & Substance for Abstract: Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans. Information

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Grant and Affiliation Information for Early embryonic programming of neuronal left/right asymmetry in C. elegans.

AFFILIATION: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, USA.

Country: England

AGENCY: United States NINDS

GRANT: R01 NS050266-01

ACRONYM: NS

MEDLINETA: Curr Biol

REFSOURCE: Curr Biol. 2006 Dec 19;16(24):R1039-42

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