IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v426y2003i6968d10.1038_nature02255.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A microRNA controlling left/right neuronal asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans

Author

Listed:
  • Robert J. Johnston

    (Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons)

  • Oliver Hobert

    (Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons)

Abstract

How left/right functional asymmetry is layered on top of an anatomically symmetrical nervous system is poorly understood. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, two morphologically bilateral taste receptor neurons, ASE left (ASEL) and ASE right (ASER), display a left/right asymmetrical expression pattern of putative chemoreceptor genes that correlates with a diversification of chemosensory specificities1,2. Here we show that a previously undefined microRNA termed lsy-6 controls this neuronal left/right asymmetry of chemosensory receptor expression. lsy-6 mutants that we retrieved from a genetic screen for defects in neuronal left/right asymmetry display a loss of the ASEL-specific chemoreceptor expression profile with a concomitant gain of the ASER-specific profile. A lsy-6 reporter gene construct is expressed in less than ten neurons including ASEL, but not ASER. lsy-6 exerts its effects on ASEL through repression of cog-1, an Nkx-type homeobox gene, which contains a lsy-6 complementary site in its 3′ untranslated region and that has been shown to control ASE-specific chemoreceptor expression profiles3. lsy-6 is the first microRNA to our knowledge with a role in neuronal patterning, providing new insights into left/right axis formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert J. Johnston & Oliver Hobert, 2003. "A microRNA controlling left/right neuronal asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans," Nature, Nature, vol. 426(6968), pages 845-849, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:426:y:2003:i:6968:d:10.1038_nature02255
    DOI: 10.1038/nature02255
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02255
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature02255?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:426:y:2003:i:6968:d:10.1038_nature02255. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.