Extracellular Proteins Needed for C. elegans Mechanosensation

Extracellular Proteins Needed for C. elegans Mechanosensation

The mec-5 and mec-9 genes encode putative extracellular proteins that allow a set of six touch receptor neurons in C. elegans to respond to gentle touch. MEC-5 is a collagen made by the epidermal cells that surround the touch cells. Mutations causing touch insensitivity affect the Gly-X-Y repeats of this collagen. mec-9 produces two transcripts, the larger of which is expressed in the touch cel...

Temporal processing and context dependency in C. elegans mechanosensation

Temporal processing and context dependency in C. elegans mechanosensation Mochi Liu1, Anuj K Sharma2, Joshua W Shaevitz1,2, Andrew M Leifer2,3* *For correspondence: [email protected] (AML) 1Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, USA; 2Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton University, USA; 3Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University...

Reverse-Correlation Analysis of Mechanosensation Circuit in C. elegans Reveals Temporal and Spatial Encoding

Extracellular Proteins Organize the Mechanosensory Channel Complex in C. elegans Touch Receptor Neurons

Specialized extracellular matrix (ECM) is associated with virtually every mechanosensory system studied. C. elegans touch receptor neurons have specialized ECM and attach to the surrounding epidermis. The mec-1 gene encodes an ECM protein with multiple EGF and Kunitz domains. MEC-1 is needed for the accumulation of the collagen MEC-5 and other ECM components, attachment, and, separately, for to...

Mechanosensation and mechanical load modulate the locomotory gait of swimming C. elegans.

Animals move through their environments by selecting gaits that are adapted to the physical nature of their surroundings. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans swims through fluids or crawls on surfaces by propagating flexural waves along its slender body and offers a unique opportunity for detailed analysis of locomotory gait at multiple levels including kinematics, biomechanics and the molecula...