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Different neuropeptides are expressed in different functional subsets of cholinergic excitatory motorneurons in the nematode Ascaris suum.

ABSTRACT: Neuropeptides are known to have dramatic effects on neurons and synapses; however, despite extensive studies of the motorneurons in the parasitic nematode Ascaris suum, their peptide content had not yet been described. We determined the peptide content of single excitatory motorneurons by mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry. There are two subsets of ventral cord excitatory motorneurons, each with neuromuscular output either anterior or posterior to their cell body, mediating forward or backward locomotion, respectively. Strikingly, the two sets of neurons contain different neuropeptides, with AF9 and six novel peptides (As-NLP-21.1-6) in anterior projectors, and the six afp-1 peptides in addition to AF2 in posterior projectors. In situ hybridization confirmed the expression of these peptides, validating the integrity of the dissection technique. This work identifies new components of the functional behavioral circuit, as well as potential targets for antiparasitic drug development.

SUBMITTER: Konop CJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4769031 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Different neuropeptides are expressed in different functional subsets of cholinergic excitatory motorneurons in the nematode Ascaris suum.

Konop Christopher J CJ Knickelbine Jennifer J JJ Sygulla Molly S MS Vestling Martha M MM Stretton Antony O W AO

ACS chemical neuroscience 20150409 6

Neuropeptides are known to have dramatic effects on neurons and synapses; however, despite extensive studies of the motorneurons in the parasitic nematode Ascaris suum, their peptide content had not yet been described. We determined the peptide content of single excitatory motorneurons by mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry. There are two subsets of ventral cord excitatory motorneurons, each with neuromuscular output either anterior or posterior to their cell body, mediating forward o ...[more]

PMID: 25812635

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Project description:BackgroundCaenorhabditis elegans has traditionally been used as a model for studying nematode biology, but its small size limits the ability for researchers to perform some experiments such as high-throughput tissue-specific gene expression studies. However, the dissection of individual tissues is possible in the parasitic nematode Ascaris suum due to its relatively large size. Here, we take advantage of the recent genome sequencing of Ascaris suum and the ability to physically dissect its separate tissues to produce a wide-scale tissue-specific nematode RNA-seq datasets, including data on three non-reproductive tissues (head, pharynx, and intestine) in both male and female worms, as well as four reproductive tissues (testis, seminal vesicle, ovary, and uterus). We obtained fundamental information about the biology of diverse cell types and potential interactions among tissues within this multicellular organism.Methodology/principal findingsOverexpression and functional enrichment analyses identified many putative biological functions enriched in each tissue studied, including functions which have not been previously studied in detail in nematodes. Putative tissue-specific transcriptional factors and corresponding binding motifs that regulate expression in each tissue were identified, including the intestine-enriched ELT-2 motif/transcription factor previously described in nematode intestines. Constitutively expressed and novel genes were also characterized, with the largest number of novel genes found to be overexpressed in the testis. Finally, a putative acetylcholine-mediated transcriptional network connecting biological activity in the head to the male reproductive system is described using co-expression networks, along with a similar ecdysone-mediated system in the female.Conclusions/significanceThe expression profiles, co-expression networks and co-expression regulation of the 10 tissues studied and the tissue-specific analysis presented here are a valuable resource for studying tissue-specific biological functions in nematodes.

Dataset Information

Different neuropeptides are expressed in different functional subsets of cholinergic excitatory motorneurons in the nematode Ascaris suum.

Publications

Different neuropeptides are expressed in different functional subsets of cholinergic excitatory motorneurons in the nematode Ascaris suum.

Similar Datasets

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