Convergent, RIC-8-Dependent Gα Signaling Pathways in the Caenorhabditis elegans Synaptic Signaling Network

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Abstract
We used gain-of-function and null synaptic signaling network mutants to investigate the relationship of the Gαq and Gαs pathways to synaptic vesicle priming and to each other. Genetic epistasis studies using Gαq gain-of-function and null mutations, along with a mutation that blocks synaptic vesicle priming and the synaptic vesicle priming stimulator phorbol ester, suggest that the Gαq pathway generates the core, obligatory signals for synaptic vesicle priming. In contrast, the Gαs pathway is not required for the core priming function, because steady-state levels of neurotransmitter release are not significantly altered in animals lacking a neuronal Gαs pathway, even though these animals are strongly paralyzed as a result of functional (nondevelopmental) defects. However, our genetic analysis indicates that these two functionally distinct pathways converge and that they do so downstream of DAG production. Further linking the two pathways, our epistasis analysis of a ric-8 null mutant suggests that RIC-8 (a receptor-independent Gα guanine nucleotide exchange factor) is required to maintain both the Gαq vesicle priming pathway and the neuronal Gαs pathway in a functional state. We propose that the neuronal Gαs pathway transduces critical positional information onto the core Gαq pathway to stabilize the priming of selected synapses that are optimal for locomotion.