DD5-ablation sample video

Processed video showing DD5-ablated animal (with segmentation) freely-moving on a bacterial lawn for 15 minutes

Mock-ablation (PDB) sample video

Processed video showing mock-ablated animal (with segmentation) freely-moving on a bacterial lawn for 15 minutes

PDB ablations_1 feature files and segmented movies

Processed videos of mock- and PDB-ablated animals (with segmentation) freely-moving on a bacterial lawn for 15 minutes, and Matlab files containing data for features extracted from these videos, for replicate 1 of the PDB-ablation experiment

DD3 DD4 ablations raw videos (mock/DD3/DD4)

Raw videos of mock-, DD3- and DD4-ablated animals freely-moving on a bacterial lawn for 15 minutes, for the DD3/DD4-ablation experiment

PDB-ablation sample video 1

Processed video showing PDB-ablated animal (with segmentation) freely-moving on a bacterial lawn for 15 minutes

DD2 DD5 ablations_2 raw videos (mock)

Raw videos of mock-ablated animals freely-moving on a bacterial lawn for 15 minutes for replicate 2 of the DD2/DD5-ablation experiment

PDB ablations_2 raw videos (mock/PDB)

Raw videos of mock- and PDB-ablated animals freely-moving on a bacterial lawn for 15 minutes, for replicate 2 of the PDB-ablation experiment

Molecular/cellular mechanisms for cross-modal plasticity following sensory loss.

<p>(A) Loss of body touch in <i>C</i>. <i>elegans</i> results in reduced neuropeptide secretion from the TRNs, leading to the release from suppression, i.e., strengthening, of the inhibitory glutamatergic synaptic connection between AWC chemosensory neurons and AIY interneurons and thus enhancing the output of the olfactory circuit. Optogenetic activation of the TRNs (red lightning bolt) or insertion of an engineered electrical synapse between AWC and AIY (red dashed line) can counteract these effects. (B) Visual deprivation in rats results in increased serotonin signaling, possibly from the raphe nucleus, increasing extracellular serotonin abundance in layer 2/3 of the barrel cortex, which in turn strengthens the excitatory glutamatergic synaptic connections between the sensory input layer 4 and the cortical output layer 2/3, thus enhancing somatosensory output [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002348#pbio.1002348.ref011" target="_blank">11</a>]. (C) Visual or whisker deprivation in mice results in reduced oxytocin secretion from the hypothalamus, which leads to reduced synaptic transmission to somatosensory or visual cortical output layer 2/3, reducing the output [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002348#pbio.1002348.ref013" target="_blank">13</a>]. Rectangles represent sensory or sensory input neurons and ovals represent downstream output neurons.</p

FLP-20 is involved in TRN neuropeptide signaling modulating locomotion.

<p>(A) <i>flp-20</i> mutants have an increased off-food reversing rate that is smaller than the <i>mec-4</i> increase. <i>flp-20; mec-4</i> double mutants exhibit a similar increase in off-food reversing rate as <i>mec-4</i> single mutants. (B) An additional <i>flp-20</i> allele displays a similar increase in reversing frequency. (C) TRN-specific expression of FLP-20 cDNA restores <i>flp-20</i> reversing rate off-food. (D) TRN-specific expression of FLP-20 cDNA reduces <i>flp-20</i> reversing rate off-food, but not on-food (2-way ANOVA interaction <i>p</i> = 0.0005). (E) Eliminating functional FLP-20 sequence exclusively in the TRNs is sufficient for increasing reversing rate. (F) Overexpression of FLP-20 in the TRNs of <i>mec-4(253)</i> mutants decreases their reversing rate. (G) TRN photo-stimulation has a weakened suppressive effect on the reversing rate of Mec-deficient worms lacking functional FLP-20. (H) Pflp-20::GFP fluorescence intensity, indicating FLP-20 transcription, in <i>mec-4(u253)</i> mutants and following disruption of exocytosis in the TRNs is reduced in ALM, does not substantially vary in PVC, and is also reduced in the ASE neurons (2-way ANOVA interaction <i>p</i> < 0.0001). Sample size indicated in each panel; Error bars represent SEMs; *<i>p</i> < 0.05, **<i>p</i> < 0.01, ***<i>p</i> < 0.001, ****<i>p</i> < 0.0001 <i>t</i> test with Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons where relevant.</p

AWC→AIY transmission underlies TRN activity-dependent modulation of locomotion.

<p>(A) Overexpression of glutamate receptor GLC-3 in AIY increases off-food reversing rate, but is not additive with the effects of loss of body touch. (B) In <i>glc-3</i> mutants, loss of touch responsiveness does not increase reversing rate. (C) Optogenetic TRN stimulation of <i>glc-3; mec-4</i> double mutants does not alter their reversing frequency off-food compared to naïve controls (2-way ANOVA interaction <i>p</i> = 0.014). (D) Inserting an engineered electrical synapse between AWC and AIY attenuates AWC→AIY inhibitory transmission, since it offsets the AWC to AIY inhibitory negative signal (↓) with a positive signal (↑) and at the same time also feeds back a negative signal (↓) into AWC. (E) An engineered electrical synapse inserted between AWC and AIY reduces reversing frequency in wild type. (F) An engineered electrical synapse inserted between AWC and AIY counteracts the increased reversing rate of Mec mutants. Sample size indicated in each panel; Error bars represent SEMs; *<i>p</i> < 0.05, **<i>p</i> < 0.01, ***<i>p</i> < 0.001 <i>t</i> test with Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons where relevant.</p