Flavin monooxygenases regulate Caenorhabditis elegans axon guidance and growth cone protrusion with UNC-6/Netrin signaling and Rac GTPases
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Issue Date
2017-08-31Author
Gujar, Mahekta R.
Stricker, Aubrie M.
Lundquist, Erik A.
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Rights
© 2017 Gujar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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The guidance cue UNC-6/Netrin regulates both attractive and repulsive axon guidance. Our previous work showed that in C. elegans, the attractive UNC-6/Netrin receptor UNC-40/DCC stimulates growth cone protrusion, and that the repulsive receptor, an UNC-5:UNC-40 heterodimer, inhibits growth cone protrusion. We have also shown that inhibition of growth cone protrusion downstream of the UNC-5:UNC-40 repulsive receptor involves Rac GTPases, the Rac GTP exchange factor UNC-73/Trio, and the cytoskeletal regulator UNC-33/CRMP, which mediates Semaphorin-induced growth cone collapse in other systems. The multidomain flavoprotein monooxygenase (FMO) MICAL (Molecule Interacting with CasL) also mediates growth cone collapse in response to Semaphorin by directly oxidizing F-actin, resulting in depolymerization. The C. elegans genome does not encode a multidomain MICAL-like molecule, but does encode five flavin monooxygenases (FMO-1, -2, -3, -4, and 5) and another molecule, EHBP-1, similar to the non-FMO portion of MICAL. Here we show that FMO-1, FMO-4, FMO-5, and EHBP-1 may play a role in UNC-6/Netrin directed repulsive guidance mediated through UNC-40 and UNC-5 receptors. Mutations in fmo-1, fmo-4, fmo-5, and ehbp-1 showed VD/DD axon guidance and branching defects, and variably enhanced unc-40 and unc-5 VD/DD axon guidance defects. Developing growth cones in vivo of fmo-1, fmo-4, fmo-5, and ehbp-1 mutants displayed excessive filopodial protrusion, and transgenic expression of FMO-5 inhibited growth cone protrusion. Mutations suppressed growth cone inhibition caused by activated UNC-40 and UNC-5 signaling, and activated Rac GTPase CED-10 and MIG-2, suggesting that these molecules are required downstream of UNC-6/Netrin receptors and Rac GTPases. From these studies we conclude that FMO-1, FMO-4, FMO-5, and EHBP-1 represent new players downstream of UNC-6/Netrin receptors and Rac GTPases that inhibit growth cone filopodial protrusion in repulsive axon guidance.
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Citation
Gujar MR, Stricker AM, Lundquist EA (2017) Flavin monooxygenases regulate Caenorhabditis elegans axon guidance and growth cone protrusion with UNC-6/Netrin signaling and Rac GTPases. PLoS Genet 13(8): e1006998. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006998
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as: © 2017 Gujar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.