Embryonic development of C. elegans sense organs

Area of Science:

• Developmental biology
• Neuroscience
• Cell biology

Background:

• C. elegans sense organs are models for cell interaction in organogenesis.
• Sense organs comprise glial (sheath, socket) and neuronal cells.
• Observing early sense organ development in embryos is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To visualize and understand the early morphogenesis of C. elegans head sense organs.
• To infer developmental steps by analyzing a high-resolution ultrastructural dataset.

Main Methods:

• Reconstruction of all head sense organs from a comma-stage C. elegans embryo ultrastructural dataset.
• Analysis of symmetric sense organs at different developmental stages.

Main Results:

• Sheath glia wrap neuron dendrites, starting at the distal tip, fusing, and zippering down.
• Sheath glia often ensheath neuron progenitors before their final division.
• Socket glia wrap the sheath glia circumferentially after sheath wrapping begins.
• Transient interactions, like amphid sheath glia wrapping AUA neurons, were observed.

Conclusions:

• Coordinated morphogenesis of neurons and glia is crucial for sense organ development.
• Public EM datasets are valuable resources for uncovering new biological insights.
• The study provides a detailed step-by-step model of sense organ development.