@article{ebd4de5ded1f49bcb7d2ccc692c25e31,
title = "A terminal selector prevents a Hox transcriptional switch to safeguard motor neuron identity throughout life",
abstract = "To become and remain functional, individual neuron types must select during development and maintain throughout life their distinct terminal identity features, such as expression of specific neurotransmitter receptors, ion channels and neuropeptides. Here, we report a molecular mechanism that enables cholinergic motor neurons (MNs) in the C. elegans ventral nerve cord to select and maintain their unique terminal identity. This mechanism relies on the dual function of the conserved terminal selector UNC-3 (Collier/Ebf). UNC-3 synergizes with LIN-39 (Scr/ Dfd/Hox4-5) to directly co-activate multiple terminal identity traits specific to cholinergic MNs, but also antagonizes LIN-39{\textquoteright}s ability to activate terminal features of alternative neuronal identities. Loss of unc-3 causes a switch in the transcriptional targets of LIN-39, thereby alternative, not cholinergic MN-specific, terminal features become activated and locomotion defects occur. The strategy of a terminal selector preventing a transcriptional switch may constitute a general principle for safeguarding neuronal identity throughout life.",
author = "Weidong Feng and Yinan Li and Pauline Dao and Jihad Aburas and Priota Islam and Benayahu Elbaz and Anna Kolarzyk and Brown, {Andr{\'e} E.X.} and Paschalis Kratsios",
note = "Funding Information: We thank the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (CGC), which is funded by NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (P40 OD010440), for providing strains. We thank Anthony Osuma, Melanie Le Gouez, and Minhkhoi Nguyen for generating lin-39 and oig-1 reporter strains. We are grateful to Oliver Hobert, Elizabeth Heckscher, Robert Carillo, Catarina Catela, and Daniele Canzio for comments on this manuscript. This work was funded by an NINDS grant (R00NS084988) and a Whitehall Foundation grant to PK.. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. K99/R00: Pathway to Independence Award. Paschalis Kratsios. Whitehall Foundation. 2017-12-50. Paschalis Kratsios. Funding Information: We thank the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (CGC), which is funded by NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (P40 OD010440), for providing strains. We thank Anthony Osuma, Melanie Le Gouez, and Minhkhoi Nguyen for generating lin-39 and oig-1 reporter strains. We are grateful to Oliver Hobert, Elizabeth Heckscher, Robert Carillo, Catarina Catela, and Daniele Canzio for comments on this manuscript. This work was funded by an NINDS grant (R00NS084988) and a Whitehall Foundation grant to PK. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Feng et al.",
year = "2020",
month = jan,
doi = "10.7554/eLife.50065",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "9",
journal = "eLife",
issn = "2050-084X",
publisher = "eLife Sciences Publications",
}