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First published online February 29, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 900-910 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.013953
Identification, molecular structure and expression of two cloned serotonin receptors from the pond snail, Helisoma trivolvis
1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, T6G 2E9
2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, T2N 1N4
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: jigoldbe{at}ucalgary.ca)
Accepted 10 January 2008
| Summary |
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Key words: serotonin receptor, gastropod, mollusc, phylogenetic analysis, receptor expression
| INTRODUCTION |
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Studies on the molecular evolution of 5-HT receptors support the idea that
the various families of 5-HT receptors were established before the radiation
of most modern phyla (Peroutka,
1994
; Tierney,
2001
; Walker et al.,
1996
). This suggests that the 5-HT receptor families characterized
in vertebrate species should have homologs in modern invertebrate species.
However, the roughly 500–600 million years of evolution since the
separation of chordates from other invertebrate phyla could hamper the
identification of homologous receptor subtypes. Alternatively, unique receptor
families could have evolved or been lost relatively recently during vertebrate
evolution.
Molecular cloning studies on invertebrate 5-HT receptors have in several
cases revealed putative homologs to vertebrate 5-HT receptors. To date, four G
protein-coupled 5-HT receptors have been cloned from Drosophila
melanogaster (Colas et al.,
1995
; Saudou et al.,
1992
; Witz et al.,
1990
), and two from Caenorhabditis elegans
(Hamdan et al., 1999
;
Olde and McCombie, 1997
), all
of which are considered to be homologous to known vertebrate receptors
(Tierney, 2001
). A third
nematode 5-HT receptor has been cloned from the parasite Ascaris suum
(Huang et al., 1999
); however,
its affiliation with a vertebrate receptor family is more tentative. Somewhat
surprisingly, all of these proposed homologies are limited to the
5-HT1, 5-HT2 and 5-HT7 receptor families.
Molluscan model systems have been particularly useful for gaining a
comprehensive understanding of 5-HT function through the integration of
molecular, cellular and behavioral approaches. Most notably, studies on
Aplysia californica (Brunelli et
al., 1976
; Sharma et al.,
2003
) have elucidated the cellular actions of 5-HT and the
underlying mechanisms that are central to the acquisition of short- and
long-term forms of learning. Similarly, the critical roles played by 5-HT
during feeding behavior have been extensively analyzed in studies on A.
californica (Hurwitz et al.,
2000
; Kabotyanski et al.,
2000
; Morgan et al.,
2000
) and Lymnaea stagnalis
(Straub and Benjamin, 2001
;
Yeoman et al., 1996
). Of the
five 5-HT receptors cloned to date from these species, two from L.
stagnalis (Gerhardt et al.,
1996
; Sugamori et al.,
1993
) and one from Aplysia
(Angers et al., 1998
) were
proposed to be members of the 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptor
families (Tierney, 2001
).
Pharmacological and structural characteristics of the other two
Aplysia 5-HT receptors precluded their assignment in any of the known
5-HT receptor families (Li et al.,
1995
; Tierney,
2001
).
The pond snail Helisoma trivolvis Say 1816 is a gastropod mollusc
that has been used to explore in depth the 5-HT neurotransmitter system from a
developmental perspective. Experiments demonstrating inhibitory effects of
5-HT on regenerative neurite outgrowth from various identified neurons, most
notably buccal ganglion neuron B19, played a pioneering role in establishing
neurotransmitters as developmental signals
(Haydon et al., 1984
;
McCobb and Kater, 1988
).
Neuron B19 was further used to examine the signal transduction pathway of the
neurite outgrowth response to 5-HT
(Mattson and Kater, 1987
;
McCobb et al., 1988
;
Polak et al., 1991
;
Price and Goldberg, 1993
;
Zhou and Cohan, 2001
), the
pharmacological profile of the underlying 5-HT receptors
(Price and Goldberg, 1993
),
and the activity of this response during embryonic development
(Goldberg and Kater,
1989
).
The experimental tractability of H. trivolvis embryos revealed in
this earlier work led to their continued use in studies on 5-HT and the
realization that this neurotransmitter plays multiple roles during embryonic
development. These include the inhibition or facilitation of neurite outgrowth
in numerous embryonic neurons (Goldberg et
al., 1991
; Goldberg et al.,
1992
), the autoregulation of neurite outgrowth in the serotonergic
embryonic neuron C1 (ENC1) (Diefenbach et
al., 1995
), and excitatory neurotransmission in neural circuits
between the ENC1 neurons and their postsynaptic ciliary cells
(Kuang and Goldberg, 2001
).
Furthermore, the signal transduction mechanisms and pharmacological profile of
the cilioexcitatory response to 5-HT have been extensively examined
(Christopher et al., 1996
;
Doran et al., 2004
;
Goldberg et al., 1994
).
The molecular cloning of 5-HT receptors from H. trivolvis is a logical next step in our studies on the developmental actions of 5-HT. The information gained from this will help build the bioinformatic database required to better understand the evolution of 5-HT receptors (see above). In terms of the H. trivolvis model system, it will provide the opportunity to characterize the 5-HT receptors mediating the various known activities of 5-HT in future studies. Furthermore, the cloning of 5-HT receptors will, potentially, reveal further roles for 5-HT through receptor localization studies, as well as provide the opportunity to perform highly specific molecular knockout experiments in exploring these roles.
In this study, we used degenerate oligonucleotide primers based on conserved regions of the 5-HT1Lym receptor to amplify G protein-coupled biogenic amine receptor sequences from H. trivolvis genomic cDNA. Sequences were used to generate primers for screening a H. trivolvis cDNA library, resulting in the cloning of two putative 5-HT receptors. We present here full nucleotide sequences of the 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel genes, a phylogenetic analysis, and localization of their expression in whole embryos and adult central nervous system (CNS) by in situ hybridization and immunochemistry.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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PCR products (10 µl) from the first reaction were used as the template for a second round of PCR using nested primers TM3 and TM6 (Table 1). The re-amplification was performed using the same program as above, over a MgCl2 concentration range of 1 to 9 mmol l–1.
PCR products were then cloned into pGEM-T. Individual colonies were picked, boiled, screened by PCR, and the DNA sequenced. PCR primers specific for two distinct receptors were designed based on the initial PCR products, and used to screen sections of a H. trivolvis CNS lambda-ZAP cDNA library consisting of 44 fractions (made by Erno Vreugdenhill, 1993, and kindly provided by Garry Hauser and Andy Bulloch, University of Calgary). Primers WJG1157 and WJG1158 were used to identify library sections containing 5-HT1Hel, while primers WJG1183 and WJG1184 were used to identify those sections containing 5-HT7Hel (Table 1). Out of the cDNA library sections producing PCR bands of the expected size, one was chosen for screening for each putative receptor clone: CNS fraction no. 1 for 5-HT1Hel and CNS fraction no. 4 for 5-HT7Hel.
Inserts from plasmids containing the primary cloned PCR products were
excised and labeled with 32P-
dCTP using the Prime-A-Gene
labeling system (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). Labeled probes were used for
plaque screening of the lambda-ZAP library sections.
Inserts of plaque-purified lambda clones were excised as plasmids (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA, USA) and sequenced on both strands using a primer walking strategy.
Phylogenetic analysis
A large-scale phylogenetic analysis of G protein-coupled biogenic amine
receptors was performed on a set of 768 proteins collected from GenBank
(National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, Bethesda, MD, USA).
Sequences were aligned using MUSCLE v3.6
(Edgar, 2004
). The gapped
regions corresponding to poorly conserved N-terminal and C-terminal domains
and intracellular and extracellular loops were removed, yielding a final data
set of 214 characters. A phylogenetic tree was inferred from this dataset
using MrBayes v3.1.2 (Ronquist and
Huelsenbeck, 2003
). A mixture of 10 different amino acid
substitution models was evaluated, and rate variability was modeled as a gamma
function with a fraction of sites invariant. Two independent runs consisting
of four chains each were carried through a total of 2 000 000 cycles of
search, with every 100th cycle being kept. The first 15 001 stored trees from
each run were discarded and the remaining 10 000 trees were used to construct
the consensus. The two H. trivolvis receptors were robustly
partitioned into a clade consisting of the type 1, type 5 and type 7
receptors. A representative subset of the vertebrate and invertebrate type 1,
type 5 and type 7 receptors and two cnidarian biogenic amine receptors were
selected and aligned and the alignment was trimmed to yield a dataset
consisting of 252 characters. This dataset was used to infer another
phylogenetic tree as described above.
In situ hybridization
Templates based on the 3' untranslated region (UTR) for
5-HT1Hel and the 5' UTR for 5-HT7Hel were produced
by PCR using specific primers, with nucleotide sequences for either the T7
(sense direction, for control probe production) or SP6 (antisense direction,
for experimental probe production) promoter regions on the 5' end of the
appropriate primer (Table 1).
PCR products were gel purified and yields quantified, and products were
sequenced using dye termination.
RNA probes were transcribed and digoxigenin (DIG) labeled using the DIG-RNA labeling kit (SP6/T7; Roche Diagnostics, Laval, QC, Canada). Labeled probe was quantified by dot blot comparison to standards.
H. trivolvis animals of an inbred lab-raised albino strain were
maintained and embryos collected as described before
(Goldberg et al., 1994
).
Embryos were staged as described previously
(Diefenbach et al., 1998
;
Goldberg et al., 1988
).
Embryos were collected from their egg capsules, rinsed with 0.01 mol
l–1 phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and immediately fixed in
freshly prepared and filtered 4% paraformaldehyde (pH 7.5) in PBS at 4°C
for 2 h to overnight. All solutions from this point on were RNase free.
Embryos were rinsed twice in PBT (PBS with 0.1% Triton X-100) then dehydrated
in an ascending ethanol series in PBT (25%, 50%, 75%) for 10 min each at room
temperature, followed by two washes in 100% ethanol. Embryos were incubated at
–20°C for at least 2 h. Embryos were rehydrated in a descending
(75%, 50%, 25%) ethanol series in PBT at room temperature for 10 min per wash,
and then rinsed twice in PBT. Embryos were digested in either 20 µg
ml–1 proteinase K for 20 min at 37°C or 0.6 mg
ml–1 trypsin (Sigma-Aldrich, Oakville, ON, Canada) for
5–10 min at 37°C. The digestion was stopped by replacing the enzyme
solution with 1 mmol l–1 phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride in PBT
for 10 min at room temperature. Embryos were refixed in 0.2% gluteraldehyde/4%
paraformaldehyde for 20 min at 4°C. They were washed twice in PBT to
remove all fixative, and then incubated in prewarmed (55°C)
prehybridization solution [40% deionized formamide, 10% dextran sulfate,
1x Denhardt's solution, 4x saline sodium citrate (SSC), 10 mmol
l–1 dithiothreitol (DTT), 1 mg ml–1 yeast
tRNA, 1 mg ml–1 denatured and sheared salmon sperm DNA] for
at least 2 h at 55°C with gentle shaking.
Hybridization with 100 ng probe ml–1 hybridization
solution was carried out at 55°C overnight on a shaking platform. Washes,
antibody incubation and antibody washes were performed as described previously
(Nieto et al., 1996
). Briefly,
embryos were washed thrice for 10 min at 55°C in 2x SSC, 0.1%
3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate (CHAPS), and then
thrice for 10 min at 55°C in 0.2x SSC, 0.1% CHAPS. Embryos were
rinsed in KTBT (50 mmol l–1 Tris-HCl pH 7.5, 150 mmol
l–1 NaCl, 10 mmol l–1 KCl, 1% Triton X-100)
at room temperature for 10 min and preblocked in 20% fetal calf serum (FCS) in
KTBT for at least 2 h at 4°C. Embryos were incubated overnight at 4°C
on a rocking platform in 1:2000 diluted anti-DIG alkaline
phosphatase-conjugated Fab fragments (Roche Diagnostics, Laval, QC, Canada) in
20% FCS in KTBT. Embryos were washed five times for 1 h in KTBT at room
temperature and incubated overnight in KTBT at 4°C.
Chromogenic precipitate formation was carried out in 1 mmol l–1 levamisole using either the NBT/BCIP color system (for purple precipitate) or the Fast Red/HNPP (for red fluorescent precipitate; Roche Diagnostics). Purple-stained embryos were visualized using brightfield microscopy, while fluorescent embryos were cleared with glycerol and visualized using confocal microscopy.
The in situ hybridization data presented are representative of the results obtained in three repeat experiments using the purple precipitate and two repeat experiments using the Fast Red precipitate. Sense controls were included in every experiment. In each experiment, at least 10 embryos were included from each embryonic stage tested.
Immunohistochemistry
Immunofluorescence localization of 5-HT1Hel and
5-HT7Hel receptors was performed on histological sections from the
CNS of mature snails and whole-mounts of cultured identified neurons. The
intact CNS or subsets of CNS ganglia were dissected out of mature snails as
previously described (Young et al.,
1999
), fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS for 24 h at 4°C,
and washed three times in PBS for 60 min at room temperature. The tissues were
dehydrated through a series of ethanol into toluene, embedded in paraffin wax,
cut into 10 µm sections, mounted on slides and incubated for 24 h at
37°C. The sections were washed three times with toluene to remove the
paraffin, rehydrated though a series of ethanol and rinsed three times with
PBS over 30 min. Primary antibodies to 5-HT1Hel and
5-HT7Hel were raised in rabbits against peptides derived from
intracellular loop sequences of the respective receptor proteins, as described
previously (Doran and Goldberg,
2004
). The antibodies were diluted 1:500 in blocking medium (4%
horse serum, 0.1% NaN3, 0.1% Triton X-100 in 0.1 mol
l–1 PBS) and applied to sections for 24 h at 4°C under
gentle agitation. The sections were washed six times in PBS over 3 h and then
exposed to 1:400 diluted goat anti-rabbit IgG conjugated to Alexa 488
(Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) for 3 h at 4°C under gentle agitation. The
slides were washed six times in PBS over 3 h, mounted in 80% glycerol in PBS,
and stored for 3 days at 4°C before viewing. The immunoreactivity data
presented are representative of the results obtained from four different
experiments on a total of 12 isolated CNS.
|
| RESULTS |
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Unlike the vertebrate 5-HT1 receptor clade, which contains five paralogs that apparently arose in the common ancestor of vertebrates, the invertebrate 5-HT1 receptor clade generally contains only single homologs from each species that is represented. In the cases where there are more than one paralogous sequence in an organism (e.g. the two 5-HT7 receptors from Dugesia japonica and the three 5-HT1 receptors from Drosophila melanogaster) the paralogy appears to have arisen late in evolution.
Molecular characterization
Full-length 5-HT1Hel cDNA is over 4000 base pairs (bp) in
length, excluding the poly-adenylated tail. The 5' UTR is 144 bp long,
the 3' UTR is over 2000 bp and the open reading frame (ORF) is 1509 bp
long, predicting a protein of 503 amino acids (aa) in length. The putative
5-HT1Hel receptor has seven hydrophobic helical domains that are
strongly predicted by the Transmembrane Hidden Markov Model program (TMHMM)
(Sonnhammer et al., 1998
),
with an extracellular N-terminus that is weakly predicted to contain a
non-cleaved signal peptide sequence. The seven transmembrane helices align
with the characteristic motifs within transmembrane regions of other
seven-pass G protein-coupled receptors
(Fig. 2). Interestingly, the
species homolog 5-HT1Lym from the related pond snail Lymnaea
stagnalis (Sugamori et al.,
1993
) shares a similar protein structure profile, being 508 aa
long, having nearly identically sized amino- and carboxy-termini (94 aa and 19
aa, respectively, for 5-HTLym compared with 95 aa and 19 aa,
respectively, for 5-HT1Hel) and comparably sized third
intracellular loops (150 aa for 5-HTLym, 154 aa for
5-HT1Hel).
The full-length 5-HT7Hel cDNA is 4295 bp in length excluding the
poly-adenylated tail. The 5' UTR is 820 bp in length, the 3' UTR
is 2034 bp long and the ORF is 1437 bp in length, predicting a protein of 479
aa. Hydrophobicity analysis based on TMHMM
(Sonnhammer et al., 1998
)
predicts that the putative 5-HT7Hel protein has seven distinct
transmembrane regions. Both amino- and carboxy-termini are 70 aa in length,
and the third intracellular loop is 97 aa long. There is no predicted cleaved
signal peptide at the N-terminus, but the N-terminus is identified as
extracellular by TMHMM.
|
Localization in embryos and the CNS of adult H. trivolvis
Localization of the 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel gene
transcripts was initially examined using in situ hybridization in
Helisoma embryos, where 5-HT has been shown to be involved in the
regulation of ciliary beating (Diefenbach
et al., 1991
; Kuang and
Goldberg, 2001
), neurite outgrowth
(Diefenbach et al., 1995
;
Goldberg and Kater, 1989
;
Goldberg et al., 1991
;
Goldberg et al., 1992
) and
neuronal intracellular calcium concentration
(Goldberg et al., 1992
). The
RNA DIG labeled probe for 5-HT1Hel was based on the full-length
insert corresponding to the coding region between TM3 and TM6. Embryos at
stage E45–50, which represents the end of the prototrocal–juvenile
transition, displayed consistent expression of 5-HT1Hel on the
ciliated foot, tentacles and ciliated mantle
(Fig. 3A,B). Control reactions
using the corresponding sense, rather than anti-sense, sequences revealed no
expression (Fig. 3C).
Furthermore, a second probe that was generated from the 3' UTR of the
5-HT1Hel gene revealed a similar expression pattern to that seen
with the initial probe, suggesting that the expression did not result from
cross-reactivity with other receptor gene sequences. This latter probe was
revealed using Fast Red labeling of anti-DIG immunoreactivity and confocal
microscopy, confirming that the whole-mount techniques were sufficient to
reveal staining in the interior of the embryos
(Fig. 3D). This approach
revealed additional expression where the neurites of serotonergic neurons
innervate foot ciliary cells (Koss et al.,
2003
), as well as within the gastrointestinal tract.
In situ hybridization experiments on the 5-HT7Hel receptor gene revealed a similar expression pattern to that described for 5-HT1Hel (Fig. 3E). Confocal optical sectioning of Fast Red–labeled embryos showed expression of 5-HT7Hel in the region where the pedal cilia are innervated by the ENC1 neurons, as well as in the gastrointestinal tract and at the ventral mantle (Fig. 3E). Expression was also observed in the primordial tentacles, whereas no expression was observed when a sense probe was used (data not shown).
The expression of 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel receptors was
also characterized in histological sections of the CNS from mature snails.
Using antibodies raised against peptides from within distinct intracellular
loop regions of the receptor proteins
(Doran and Goldberg, 2004
),
immunohistochemistry revealed widespread expression of both receptors
throughout the CNS (Figs 4 and
5). Whereas neuritic staining
of both receptor proteins occurred in the neuropile, connectives and
peripheral nerves in every ganglion of the CNS, neuronal somata appeared
unstained in all cases. The absence of cell body staining precluded an
analysis of the expression profile in known identified neurons. Interestingly,
when cerebral ganglion neuron C1 was isolated and grown in cell culture,
5-HT1Hel (Fig.
5C–E) and 5-HT7Hel (data not shown)
immunoreactivity was observed primarily in the cell body. The widespread
expression of the 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel receptors in
both embryos and mature snails suggests that these receptors may mediate some
of the well-established developmental and physiological actions of 5-HT.
|
|
| DISCUSSION |
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Phylogenetic relationships of the 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel receptors
Phylogenetic analysis clearly identifies the two new receptors as homologs
of type 1 and type 7 5-HT receptors from other organisms. Not unexpectedly,
5-HT1Hel grouped entirely within a molluscan clade of
5-HT1 receptor genes, with the 5-HT1Lym receptor being
the closest ortholog. The non-molluscan 5-HT1 receptor sequences in
our analysis were from arthropod and nematode species. In every case,
sequences from the same phylum were more similar to each other than to those
from different phyla. Furthermore, arthropod and nematode sequences were more
closely related to each other than they were to the molluscan sequences, as
expected from the ecdysozoan relationship between arthopods and nemotodes. The
position of the 5-HT1Hel gene in the phylogentic tree produced in
our analysis supports the hypothesis that a common ancestor of the ecdysozoans
and lophotrochozoans contained 5-HT1 receptors.
Interestingly, the phylogenetic relationships for 5-HT7 genes were quite different, with 5-HT7 genes from various insect species grouping together as expected, but the two nematode genes were more related to 5-HT7Hel and planarian genes than to the insect genes. 5-HT7 sequences from additional arthropods, nematodes, planarians and molluscs are required to confirm this surprising separation of insect and nematode genes.
Expression and function of 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel receptors in H. trivolvis
Invertebrates have long been known to express a wide variety of 5-HT
receptors, based on the variety of cellular responses, signal transduction
elements and pharmacological profiles associated with the actions of 5-HT
(Peroutka, 1994
;
Tierney, 2001
). However, only
after the primary structure of many different 5-HT receptor proteins was
revealed through molecular cloning did it become evident that most, if not
all, invertebrate 5-HT receptors belong to one of the seven major families of
mammalian 5-HT receptors. It is not yet clear whether all invertebrate 5-HT
receptors in a particular family couple to the same signal transduction
elements (see below). Furthermore, the pharmacological profile of specific
invertebrate receptors is less likely to match that of their mammalian
homologs, as the changes in molecular structure during 600 million years of
evolution beyond the divergence of invertebrates and vertebrates would
probably result in altered receptor binding characteristics
(Tierney, 2001
).
Several invertebrate 5-HT1 receptor genes have been cloned to
date, including at least seven from molluscan species. Of particular interest
is the 5-HT1Lym receptor cloned from Lymnaea stagnalis
(Sugamori et al., 1993
), which
provided the template for the original primers used in the present study.
While a phylogenetic analysis suggested that this receptor also fell into the
5-HT1 family of receptors, binding analysis indicated a mixed
pharmacology relative to the 5-HT1 profile of vertebrate receptors,
typical for invertebrate 5-HT receptors
(Goldberg et al., 1994
). In
contrast to 5-HT1 receptors, the only invertebrate 5-HT7
receptor genes cloned to date are from arthropod, roundworm and possibly
flatworm species (Hobson et al.,
2006
; Pietrantonio et al.,
2001
; Witz et al.,
1990
). Therefore, the present study is the first to describe the
molecular structure of a 5-HT7 receptor from a molluscan
species.
The molecularly identified invertebrate 5-HT receptors generally couple to
their respective effector systems in a similar way to their vertebrate
homologs (reviewed by Tierney,
2001
). Similar to the vertebrate 5-HT1 receptors,
activation of invertebrate 5-HT1 receptors decreases cyclic AMP
levels through G
i protein-mediated inhibition of adenylate
cyclase. Likewise, both vertebrate and invertebrate 5-HT7 receptors
couple to G
s proteins, causing activation of adenylate
cyclase and cyclic AMP production. There are, however, some invertebrate 5-HT
receptors that do not belong in any of the seven 5-HT receptor families, even
though they couple normally to an effector pathway. For example, the
5-HTAAp and 5-HTBAp receptors cloned from
Aplysia do not group in any of the known families, even though they
activate the enzyme phospholipase C (PLC), a coupling characteristic of
5-HT2 receptors (Li et al.,
1995
). Likewise, the MOD-1 5-HT receptor of C. elegans is
a ligand-gated chloride channel that does not appear to be a member of the
5-HT3 family of ligand-gated 5-HT receptors
(Ranganathan et al.,
2000
).
Although confirmation of the coupling characteristics of
5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel receptors awaits functional
analyses performed both in an expression system and in situ, it is
reasonable to hypothesize that these receptors act in the same manner as their
vertebrate and invertebrate homologs. Evaluation of various 5-HT-mediated
responses in H. trivolvis therefore allows for a tentative
association of the receptors cloned in this study with particular response
pathways. One such pathway is the 5-HT-induced inhibition of neurite outgrowth
in buccal ganglion neuron B19 (Haydon et
al., 1984
; Price and Goldberg,
1993
). When regenerating in cell culture, the growth cone motility
and neurite elongation of neuron B19 are reversibly inhibited by 5-HT. This
response is thought to be transduced by a cascade involving the activation of
adenylate cyclase and elevation of cyclic AMP levels, activation of cyclic
nucleotide-gated sodium channels, depolarization and action potential
activity, influx of extracellular calcium, activation of
calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase
(Polak et al., 1991
), and
cytoskeletal rearrangement (Welnhofer et
al., 1999
). This scheme leads to the prediction that
5-HT7Hel receptors may mediate this response through their
adenylate cyclase-stimulating activity. Unfortunately, both the
anti-5-HT1Hel and anti-5-HT7Hel antibodies only stained
neurites in the intact CNS, such that the absence of soma staining precluded a
determination of whether the identifiable neuron B19 expressed these
receptors. Staining cultured B19 neurons, or staining in situ
preparations after neuron B19 has been injected with a fluorescent marker,
could possibly reveal whether the 5-HT7Hel receptors are expressed
in these neurons. Interestingly, neither 5-HT7 receptors nor
members of the 5-HT4 or 5-HT6 receptor families, all of
which induce elevations in cyclic AMP levels, have been cloned in Aplysia
californica, in which serotonergic pathways involving elevations in
cyclic AMP have been well characterized
(Barbas et al., 2003
).
Another well-studied 5-HT pathway in Helisoma underlies a
behavioural response to hypoxia during embryonic development.
Helisoma embryos contain a pair of unique sensorimotor neurons that
detect hypoxia and stimulate ciliary beating in postsynaptic ciliary cells
through the release of 5-HT (Kuang et al.,
2002
; Kuang and Goldberg,
2001
). Cell culture studies have revealed that the cilioexcitatory
response to 5-HT occurs through a highly complex signal transduction pathway
that may include multiple 5-HT receptor subtypes
(Doran and Goldberg, 2004
),
PLC and protein kinase C (PKC) activation
(Christopher et al., 1999
;
Doran and Goldberg, 2006
),
constitutive nitric oxide activity (Doran
et al., 2003
) and release of calcium from intracellular stores
(Christopher et al., 1996
;
Doran and Goldberg, 2004
).
Since inhibitors of PLC or PKC only partially block the cilioexcitatory
response (Christopher et al.,
1999
; Doran and Goldberg,
2006
), there may be more than one type of 5-HT receptor expressed
on ciliary cells, with each one mediating a component of the entire response
through different pathways. The current in situ hybridization
experiments and previous immunofluorescence experiments
(Doran et al., 2004
) together
suggest that both 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel receptors are
expressed in embryonic ciliary cells, thus supporting the multi-receptor
model. However, the expected coupling mechanisms of these types of 5-HT
receptors do not easily fit into what is currently known about the signal
transduction of the cilioexcitatory response. Previous experiments indicated
that the response is not mediated by an elevation of cyclic AMP levels, which
would be expected from a 5-HT7 receptor
(Christopher et al., 1996
).
Furthermore, the possibility that a 5-HT1-mediated decrease in
cyclic AMP levels is involved in the response has not yet been explored. One
possibility is that while an elevation in cyclic AMP may not be involved in
producing the primary response, it is involved in producing the long duration
plateau in the response that persists beyond the removal of 5-HT
(Gallin et al., 2006
), as well
as the response facilitation that occurs upon repeated exposure of the animal
to anoxia (Kuang et al.,
2002
). Determining whether the 5-HT1Hel and
5-HT7Hel receptors couple typically to the cyclic AMP system or
operate through atypical signal transduction pathways, and their specific
roles in the cilioexcitatory responses to 5-HT, awaits a functional
examination of expressed receptors and molecular knockout experiments on
ciliary cells.
The in situ hybridization experiments in this study and previous
immunolocalization experiments on embryos
(Doran et al., 2004
) revealed
widespread expression of both receptor subtypes in all ciliated regions.
Whether this expression indicates roles for these receptors in the regulation
of ciliary activity, as proposed above, or more fundamental roles in
regulating the development of these tissues remains to be determined.
Expression was also observed in regions of the embryo associated with neural
tissue, such as the regions containing ENC1 somata at early stages of
embryonic development (data not shown), and the regions where ENC1 neurons
innervate pedal ciliary cells at later stages
(Fig. 3). In the adult CNS,
both receptor proteins were expressed widely and selectively in neurons
throughout all ganglia of the CNS, corroborating the data from embryos that
both of these are neural receptors. To our surprise, CNS expression was
entirely limited to neurites within neuropiles and connectives, with none seen
in neuronal somata. Although our preliminary Western blot experiments did not
confirm that each antibody recognizes only a single antigen, the striking
restriction of CNS immunoreactivity to neurites argues that the antibodies
were highly selective for receptor proteins. In an autoradiographic study of
lysergic acid diethylamide binding in the CNS of Aplysia californica,
Kadan and Hartig (Kadan and Hartig,
1988
) reported that 5-HT receptors were most prominently localized
to the neuropile, with relatively few neurons displaying somatal expression.
In the present study on tissue sections, the intense immunoreactivity seen in
numerous neurites suggests that the absence of cell body staining correctly
reflected an absence of actual expression. Perhaps the small number of labeled
cell bodies seen in Aplysia represents the expression of a 5-HT
receptor subtype distinct from 5-HT1 or 5-HT7 receptors.
On the other hand, the expression of 5-HT1Hel and
5-HT7Hel immunoreactivity in the cell body of cerebral ganglion
neuron C1 only when it was regenerating in culture suggests that expression in
the cell body may be more likely to occur under conditions of neuronal growth,
such as during development or regeneration. This will be tested in future
immunolocalization experiments on Helisoma embryos to confirm the
expression in embryonic neuronal somata. In any event, the widespread neuritic
expression of 5-HT1Hel and 5-HT7Hel receptors throughout
the CNS supports the hypothesis that these molecules are critical to numerous
physiological processes in the Helisoma CNS.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
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