Dendrites develop elaborate morphologies in concert with surrounding glia, but the molecules that coordinate dendrite and glial morphogenesis are mostly unknown. C. elegans offers a powerful model for identifying such factors. Previous work in this system examined dendrites and glia that develop within epithelia, similar to mammalian sense organs. Here, we focus on the neurons BAG and URX, which are not part of an epithelium but instead form membranous attachments to a single glial cell at the nose, reminiscent of dendrite-glia contacts in the mammalian brain. We show that these dendrites develop by retrograde extension, in which the nascent dendrite endings anchor to the presumptive nose and then extend by stretch during embryo elongation. Using forward genetic screens, we find that dendrite development requires the adhesion protein SAX-7/L1CAM and the cytoplasmic protein GRDN-1/CCDC88C to anchor dendrite endings at the nose. SAX-7 acts in neurons and glia, while GRDN-1 acts in glia to non-autonomously promote dendrite extension. Thus, this work shows how glial factors can help to shape dendrites, and identifies a novel molecular mechanism for dendrite growth by retrograde extension.
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
RESEARCH ARTICLE|
01 January 2020
Dendrites with specialized glial attachments develop by retrograde extension using SAX-7 and GRDN-1
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Neural development
Elizabeth R. Cebul
,
Elizabeth R. Cebul
†
Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston MA 02115, USA
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Ian G. McLachlan
,
Ian G. McLachlan
†
Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston MA 02115, USA
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Maxwell G. Heiman
Maxwell G. Heiman
*
Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston MA 02115, USA
*Author for correspondence: heiman@genetics.med.harvard.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Elizabeth R. Cebul
†
Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston MA 02115, USA
Ian G. McLachlan
†
Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston MA 02115, USA
Maxwell G. Heiman
*
Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston MA 02115, USA
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
*Author for correspondence: heiman@genetics.med.harvard.edu
Received:
14 May 2019
Accepted:
07 Jan 2020
Online ISSN: 1477-9129
Print ISSN: 0950-1991
National Science Foundation
(1614915)
National Institutes of Health
(DA025896)
March of Dimes Foundation
(36-FY15-233)
Development dev.180448.
Article history
Received:
14 May 2019
Accepted:
07 Jan 2020
Currently Viewing Accepted Manuscript - Newer Version Available
17 Feb 2020
Citation
Elizabeth R. Cebul, Ian G. McLachlan, Maxwell G. Heiman; Dendrites with specialized glial attachments develop by retrograde extension using SAX-7 and GRDN-1. Development 2020; dev.180448. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.180448
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