Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Department of Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
PLoS Genet. 2011 May;7(5):e1001384. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1001384. Epub 2011 May 12.
Neural signals are processed in nervous systems of animals responding to variable environmental stimuli. This study shows that a novel and highly conserved protein, macoilin (MACO-1), plays an essential role in diverse neural functions in Caenorhabditis elegans. maco-1 mutants showed abnormal behaviors, including defective locomotion, thermotaxis, and chemotaxis. Expression of human macoilin in the C. elegans nervous system weakly rescued the abnormal thermotactic phenotype of the maco-1 mutants, suggesting that macoilin is functionally conserved across species. Abnormal thermotaxis may have been caused by impaired locomotion of maco-1 mutants. However, calcium imaging of AFD thermosensory neurons and AIY postsynaptic interneurons of maco-1 mutants suggest that macoilin is required for appropriate responses of AFD and AIY neurons to thermal stimuli. Studies on localization of MACO-1 showed that C. elegans and human macoilins are localized mainly to the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Our results suggest that macoilin is required for various neural events, such as the regulation of neuronal activity.
动物神经系统中的神经信号对环境刺激的变化作出反应。本研究表明，一种新型且高度保守的蛋白 macoilin（MACO-1）在秀丽隐杆线虫的多种神经功能中发挥着重要作用。maco-1 突变体表现出异常行为，包括运动、趋热和趋化行为缺陷。在秀丽隐杆线虫神经系统中表达人类 macoilin 可弱程度拯救 maco-1 突变体的异常趋热表型，表明 macoilin 在物种间具有功能保守性。异常趋热可能是由于 maco-1 突变体运动能力受损所致。然而，对 maco-1 突变体 AFD 热敏神经元和 AIY 突触后中间神经元的钙成像表明，macoilin 对 AFD 和 AIY 神经元对热刺激的适当反应是必需的。MACO-1 的定位研究表明，秀丽隐杆线虫和人类的 macoilin 主要定位于粗面内质网。我们的结果表明，macoilin 是各种神经事件所必需的，如神经元活动的调节。
