Fig. 2: EGL-43 is expressed in sensory neurons and is critical for dopaminergic synaptogenesis.
From: An activity-regulated transcriptional program directly drives synaptogenesis
a, A potential model for activity-dependent synaptogenesis. Upstream, specialized TFs bind cooperatively with activity-dependent IEGs to activate downstream presynaptic targets. This schematic was created with BioRender.com. b, Comparison of MECOM-related proteins. From top to bottom: C. elegans EGL-43, Drosophila melanogaster Hamlet, Homo sapiens MECOM and Mus musculus MECOM. Features—red boxes represent ZF domains, purple boxes represent SET domains, blue boxes represent nuclear localization signal, gold boxes represent CTBP-binding motif 1 and green boxes represent CTBP-binding motif 2. c, Endogenous GFP-tagged EGL-43 is expressed in various sensory neuron nuclei, including head sensory neurons, the PVD and PDE neurons, and tail sensory neurons at the L4 stage (n > 50 animals examined, repeated thrice). d, Line scans of L4 PDE axons from egl-43(wy1514) animals expressing FLP-on ELKS-1 (to label active zones) and FLP-on TBA-1 (to label microtubules). Animals were treated with either 0 mM or 4 mM auxin. Line scans marked with single asterisk are imaged from the same worm to demonstrate the expression of both labels in the same animal, with the final line scan of each set with both channels merged (denoted with two asterisks). White arrowheads denote ELKS-1 puncta detected in the distal axon. e, Quantification of line scan intensities of animals shown in d (n = 20 for both conditions). Medians are represented in thick dashed lines, and quartiles are represented in thin dashed lines; P = 1.6215 × 10−18. f, Line scans of L4 PDE axons from egl-43(wy1514) animals expressing FLP-on RAB-3 and FLP-on TBA-1. Animals were treated with either 0 mM or 4 mM auxin. Line scans marked with single asterisk are imaged from the same worm to demonstrate the expression of both labels in the same animal, with the final line scan of each set with both channels merged (denoted with two asterisks). White arrowheads denote weak RAB-3 puncta detected in the distal axon. g, Quantification of line scan intensities of animals shown in f (n = 13 (untreated) and n = 22 (treated)). Medians are represented in thick dashed lines and quartiles are represented in thin dashed lines; P = 6.33578 × 10−7. P values presented were calculated using two-tailed unpaired Student’s t tests. Scale bar = 10 μm for all images.
