Open AccessMTM-6, a Phosphoinositide Phosphatase, is Required to Promote Synapse Formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
Author(s) -
Vivian R. Ericson,
Kerri Spilker,
Madina Tugizova,
Kang Shen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0114501
Subject(s) - caenorhabditis elegans , wnt signaling pathway , microbiology and biotechnology , synapse , phosphatase , secretion , regulator , biology , function (biology) , chemistry , signal transduction , neuroscience , biochemistry , phosphorylation , gene
Forming the proper number of synapses is crucial for normal neuronal development. We found that loss of function of the phosphoinositide phosphatase mtm-6 results in a reduction in the number of synaptic puncta. The reduction in synapses is partially the result of MTM-6 regulation of the secretion of the Wnt ligand EGL-20 from cells in the tail and partially the result of neuronal action. MTM-6 shows relative specificity for EGL-20 over the other Wnt ligands. We suggest that the ability of MTM-6 to regulate EGL-20 secretion is a function of its expression pattern. We conclude that regulation of secretion of different Wnt ligands can use different components. Additionally, we present a novel neuronal function for MTM-6.