Coordinated morphogenesis of neurons and glia

Abstract

summary Glia adopt remarkable shapes that are tightly coordinated with the morphologies of their neuronal partners. Glia and neurons exhibit coordinated morphological changes on the time scale of minutes and on size scales ranging from nanometers to hundreds of microns. Here, we review recent studies that reveal the highly dynamic, localized morphological changes of mammalian neuron-glia contacts. We then explore the power of Drosophila and C. elegans models to study coordinated changes at defined neuron-glia contacts, highlighting the use of innovative genetic and imaging tools to uncover the molecular mechanisms responsible for coordinated morphogenesis of neurons and glia.

Astrocyte-Neuron Signaling in Synaptogenesis

“…In turn, for each neuron, its synapses can be wrapped by numerous fine processes from different astrocytes. During the wrapping processes, neurons and glia undergo coordinated morphogenesis in minutes, with a size scale ranging from nanometers to hundreds of microns (Lamkin and Heiman, 2017). This coordination between neurons and glia is further supported by rodent brain slice studies that observed astrocyte processes and dendritic spines growing or shrinking together upon stimulation (Haber et al, 2006).…”

The C. elegans homolog of human panic-disorder risk gene TMEM132D orchestrates neuronal morphogenesis through the WAVE-regulatory complex

“…S2). Neuronal morphogenesis critically depends on neuronal interactions with glia and epithelia in C. elegans [ 23 , 27 , 28 ]. Importantly, transgenic expression of tmem-132 driven by the osm-6 promoter rescued the morphologic defect of tmem-132 mutants, indicating a causal and cell-autonomous role of TMEM-132 for ensuring normal PDE neuronal morphology (Fig.…”

TheC. eleganshomolog ofTMEM132D, a human panic-disorder and anxiety risk gene, modulates neuronal morphogenesis through the WAVE-regulatory complex

“…tmem-132 LOF mutants also exhibited morphological defects in the ADE and PVD but not morphologically less complex AWC neurons (Figure S2). Neuronal morphogenesis critically depends on neuronal interactions with glia and epithelia in C. elegans (Inberg et al, 2019; Lamkin and Heiman, 2017; Singhvi and Shaham, 2019). Importantly, transgenic expression of tmem-132 driven by the osm-6 promoter rescued the morphologic defect of tmem-132 mutants, indicating a causal and cell-autonomous role of TMEM-132 for ensuring normal PDE neuronal morphology (Figure 2F).…”