Fig. 4: AIZ transduces a cooling signal by stimulating its postsynaptic neuron RIA.
From: Molecular and circuit mechanisms underlying avoidance of rapid cooling stimuli in C. elegans
a Schematic showing the major downstream synaptic partners of AIZ. b, c Quantification of reversal index (b) and turn index (c) in silencing of postsynaptic neurons of AIZ. n = 5, 5, 8, 9, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6 and 6 groups for each bar in (b or c) ≥10 worms/group. d Schematic diagram of the nerve ring and cell body of RIA interneurons (left panel), and the cooling-evoked calcium transients in the cell body and axon of RIA interneurons in wild-type worms (right panel). n = 14 assays. e RIA calcium transients evoked by rapid cooling stimuli in AIZ-silenced, AIZ-blocked and AIZ-killed worms. n = 9, 10, 16, 16, 9 and 8 worms for each bar. f RIA calcium transients following optogenetic activation of AIZ. RIA is expressed by the genetically encoded Ca2+ sensor R-GECO1. AIZ that specifically expressed ChR2 was activated by 460-nm blue light illumination plus All-Trans-Retinal (ATR) at a final concentration of 5 µM. Light blue shading denotes the period of blue light illumination. The same applies hereinafter in this manuscript. n = 6, 8 worms for each bar. g RIA calcium transients elicited by rapid cooling stimuli in ASH-silenced, ASH-blocked and ASH-killed worms. n = 9, 11, 16, 16, 9 and 11 worms for each bar. Data are showed as mean ± SEM. Student’s t test or Mann‒Whitney rank sum tests (two-sided) in (b–g). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, p > 0.05 denotes not significant (n.s.).
