Glia-neuron coupling via a bipartite sialylation pathway promotes neural transmission and stress tolerance in Drosophila. Elife 2023 Mar 22;12
Date
03/23/2023Pubmed ID
36946697Pubmed Central ID
PMC10110239DOI
10.7554/eLife.78280Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85151561936 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 2 CitationsAbstract
Modification by sialylated glycans can affect protein functions, underlying mechanisms that control animal development and physiology. Sialylation relies on a dedicated pathway involving evolutionarily conserved enzymes, including CMP-sialic acid synthetase (CSAS) and sialyltransferase (SiaT) that mediate the activation of sialic acid and its transfer onto glycan termini, respectively. In Drosophila, CSAS and DSiaT genes function in the nervous system, affecting neural transmission and excitability. We found that these genes function in different cells: the function of CSAS is restricted to glia, while DSiaT functions in neurons. This partition of the sialylation pathway allows for regulation of neural functions via a glia-mediated control of neural sialylation. The sialylation genes were shown to be required for tolerance to heat and oxidative stress and for maintenance of the normal level of voltage-gated sodium channels. Our results uncovered a unique bipartite sialylation pathway that mediates glia-neuron coupling and regulates neural excitability and stress tolerance.
Author List
Scott H, Novikov B, Ugur B, Allen B, Mertsalov I, Monagas-Valentin P, Koff M, Baas Robinson S, Aoki K, Veizaj R, Lefeber DJ, Tiemeyer M, Bellen H, Panin VAuthor
Kazuhiro Aoki PhD Associate Professor in the Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsDrosophila
Nervous System Physiological Phenomena
Neuroglia
Neurons
Polysaccharides
Synaptic Transmission
