A Cholinergic-Regulated Circuit Coordinates the Maintenance and Bi-Stable States of a Sensory-Motor Behavior during Caenorhabditis elegans Male Copulation

Penetration of a male copulatory organ into a suitable mate is a conserved and necessary behavioral step for most terrestrial matings; however, the detailed molecular and cellular mechanisms for this distinct social interaction have not been elucidated in any animal. During mating, the Caenorhabditis elegans male cloaca is maintained over the hermaphrodite's vulva as he attempts to insert his copulatory spicules. Rhythmic spicule thrusts cease when insertion is sensed. Circuit components consisting of sensory/motor neurons and sex muscles for these steps have been previously identified, but it was unclear how their outputs are integrated to generate a coordinated behavior pattern. Here, we show that cholinergic signaling between the cloacal sensory/motor neurons and the posterior sex muscles sustains genital contact between the sexes. Simultaneously, via gap junctions, signaling from these muscles is transmitted to the spicule muscles, thus coupling repeated spicule thrusts with vulval contact. To transit from rhythmic to sustained muscle contraction during penetration, the SPC sensory-motor neurons integrate the signal of spicule's position in the vulva with inputs from the hook and cloacal sensilla. The UNC-103 K+ channel maintains a high excitability threshold in the circuit, so that sustained spicule muscle contraction is not stimulated by fewer inputs. We demonstrate that coordination of sensory inputs and motor outputs used to initiate, maintain, self-monitor, and complete an innate behavior is accomplished via the coupling of a few circuit components

Cell-specific microarray profiling experiments reveal a comprehensive picture of gene expression in the C. elegans nervous system

A novel strategy for profiling Caenorhabditis elegans cells identifies transcripts highly enriched in either the embryonic or larval C. elegans nervous system, including 19 conserved transcripts of unknown function that are also expressed in the mammalian brain

The Conserved RIC-3 Coiled-Coil Domain Mediates Receptor-specific Interactions with Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

RIC-3 belongs to a conserved family of proteins influencing nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) maturation. RIC-3 proteins are integral membrane proteins residing in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and containing a C-terminal coiled-coil domain (CC-I). Conservation of CC-I in all RIC-3 family members indicates its importance; however, previous studies could not show its function. To examine the role of CC-I, we studied effects of its deletion on Caenorhabditis elegans nAChRs in vivo. Presence of CC-I promoted maturation of particular nAChRs expressed in body-wall muscle, whereas it was not required for other nAChR subtypes expressed in neurons or pharyngeal muscles. This effect is receptor-specific, because it could be reproduced after heterologous expression. Consistently, coimmunoprecipitation analysis showed that CC-I enhances the interaction of RIC-3 with a nAChR that requires CC-I in vivo; thus CC-I appears to enhance affinity of RIC-3 to specific nAChRs. However, we found that this function of CC-I is redundant with functions of sequences downstream to CC-I, potentially a second coiled-coil. Alternative splicing in both vertebrates and invertebrates generates RIC-3 transcripts that lack the entire C-terminus, or only CC-I. Thus, our results suggest that RIC-3 alternative splicing enables subtype specific regulation of nAChR maturation