PLoS ONE (Jan 2016)

A Farnesyltransferase Acts to Inhibit Ectopic Neurite Formation in C. elegans.

  • David Carr,
  • Leticia Sanchez-Alvarez,
  • Janice H Imai,
  • Cristina Slatculescu,
  • Nathaniel Noblett,
  • Lei Mao,
  • Lorena Beese,
  • Antonio Colavita

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157537
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 6
p. e0157537

Abstract

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Genetic pathways that regulate nascent neurite formation play a critical role in neuronal morphogenesis. The core planar cell polarity components VANG-1/Van Gogh and PRKL-1/Prickle are involved in blocking inappropriate neurite formation in a subset of motor neurons in C. elegans. A genetic screen for mutants that display supernumerary neurites was performed to identify additional factors involved in this process. This screen identified mutations in fntb-1, the β subunit of farnesyltransferase. We show that fntb-1 is expressed in neurons and acts cell-autonomously to regulate neurite formation. Prickle proteins are known to be post-translationally modified by farnesylation at their C-terminal CAAX motifs. We show that PRKL-1 can be recruited to the plasma membrane in both a CAAX-dependent and CAAX-independent manner but that PRKL-1 can only inhibit neurite formation in a CAAX-dependent manner.