The posterior nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: serial reconstruction of identified neurons and complete pattern of synaptic interactions

作者：DH Hall, Richard L. Russell · 发表于：Journal of Neuroscience · 年份：1991 · DOI：10.1523/jneurosci.11-01-00001.1991 · 被引用次数：276 · 研究领域：Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms、Circadian rhythm and melatonin、Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research

Serial-section electron microscopy has been used to reconstruct the cellular architecture of the posterior nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Each of 40 neurons in the tail of the adult hermaphrodite can be reproducibly and unambiguously identified by a set of morphological features, including cell body position, fiber geometry and size, and staining properties. A complete list of synapses has been assembled for 2 isogenic animals, and these lists are compared with a third isogenic animal reconstructed by White et al. (1986). The set of neurons and their pattern of synaptic interactions is simple and reproducible. Most of the cells are involved in sensory transduction or in local signal processing to relay signals via a few interneurons to motoneurons and thence to body muscles. Because the tail neurons are well separated and fairly reproducible in position, the hermaphrodite tail lends itself to laser-ablation studies of sensory processing (cf. Chalfie et al., 1985). Most of the synapses in the tail are concentrated in the preanal ganglion. Among the approximately 150 synapses there, about 85% are dyadic chemical synapses. The dyadic synapses are involved in reproducible patterns that have several interesting features. Most neurons synapse onto a few preferred pairs of target cells, in patterns that suggest a combinatorial model of synapse specification that may be open to genetic analysis. Furthermore, most dyadic contacts A----B,C fit a pattern in which...