Large vesicle extrusions from C. elegans neurons are consumed and stimulated by glial-like phagocytosis activity of the neighboring cell

Yu Wang, Meghan Lee Arnold, Anna Joelle Smart, Guoqiang Wang, Rebecca J. Androwski, Andres Morera, Ken C.Q. Nguyen, Peter J. Schweinsberg, Ge Bai, Jason Cooper, David H. Hall, Monica Driscoll, Barth D. Grant

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans neurons under stress can produce giant vesicles, several microns in diameter, called exophers. Current models suggest that exophers are neuroprotec-tive, providing a mechanism for stressed neurons to eject toxic protein aggregates and organ-elles. However, little is known of the fate of the exopher once it leaves the neuron. We found that exophers produced by mechanosensory neurons in C. elegans are engulfed by surrounding hypo-dermal skin cells and are then broken up into numerous smaller vesicles that acquire hypodermal phagosome maturation markers, with vesicular contents gradually degraded by hypodermal lyso-somes. Consistent with the hypodermis acting as an exopher phagocyte, we found that exopher removal requires hypodermal actin and Arp2/3, and the hypodermal plasma membrane adjacent to newly formed exophers accumulates dynamic F-actin during budding. Efficient fission of engulfed exopher-phagosomes to produce smaller vesicles and degrade their contents requires phagosome maturation factors SAND-1/Mon1, GTPase RAB-35, the CNT-1 ARF-GAP, and microtubule motor-associated GTPase ARL-8, suggesting a close coupling of phagosome fission and phagosome maturation. Lysosome activity was required to degrade exopher contents in the hypodermis but not for exopher-phagosome resolution into smaller vesicles. Importantly, we found that GTPase ARF-6 and effector SEC-10/exocyst activity in the hypodermis, along with the CED-1 phagocytic receptor, is required for efficient production of exophers by the neuron. Our results indicate that the neuron requires specific interaction with the phagocyte for an efficient exopher response, a mechanistic feature potentially conserved with mammalian exophergenesis, and similar to neuronal pruning by phagocytic glia that influences neurodegenerative disease.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere82227
JournaleLife
Volume12
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Immunology and Microbiology

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