IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms6155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

SLO-2 potassium channel is an important regulator of neurotransmitter release in Caenorhabditis elegans

Author

Listed:
  • Ping Liu

    (University of Connecticut Health Center)

  • Bojun Chen

    (University of Connecticut Health Center)

  • Zhao-Wen Wang

    (University of Connecticut Health Center)

Abstract

Slo2 channels are prominent K+ channels in mammalian neurons but their physiological functions are not well understood. Here we investigate physiological functions and regulation of the Caenorhabditis elegans homologue SLO-2 in motor neurons through electrophysiological analyses of wild-type and mutant worms. We find that SLO-2 is the primary K+ channel conducting delayed outward current in cholinergic motor neurons, and one of two K+ channels with this function in GABAergic motor neurons. Loss-of-function mutation of slo-2 increases the duration and charge transfer rate of spontaneous postsynaptic current bursts at the neuromuscular junction, which are physiological signals used by motor neurons to control muscle cells, without altering postsynaptic receptor sensitivity. SLO-2 activity in motor neurons depends on Ca2+ entry through EGL-19, an L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channel (CaV1), but not on other proteins implicated in either Ca2+ entry or intracellular Ca2+ release. Thus, SLO-2 is functionally coupled with CaV1 and regulates neurotransmitter release.

Suggested Citation

  • Ping Liu & Bojun Chen & Zhao-Wen Wang, 2014. "SLO-2 potassium channel is an important regulator of neurotransmitter release in Caenorhabditis elegans," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6155
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6155
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6155
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms6155?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
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jingyuan Jiang & Yifan Su & Ruilin Zhang & Haiwen Li & Louis Tao & Qiang Liu, 2022. "C. elegans enteric motor neurons fire synchronized action potentials underlying the defecation motor program," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.

    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:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6155. 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.