美国耶鲁大学Daniel A. Colón-Ramos研究小组发现，电突触的配置过滤感觉信息来驱动行为选择。该项研究成果于2024年12月31日在线发表在《细胞》杂志上。

研究人员发现，gap连接蛋白innexin 1（INX-1）是实现线虫热趋性行为的情境特异性行为策略所必需的。在线虫这一明确的回路中，INX-1将两个双侧对称的中间神经元连接在一起，以便在跨越温度梯度的迁移行为过程中整合感觉信息。

在inx-1突变体中，未耦合的中间神经元由于膜电阻增加和膜电容减少，表现出增强的兴奋性和对亚阈值感觉刺激的反应，进而导致异常的反应，延长奔跑时间并使动物在与情境无关的等温线追踪中陷入困境。因此，电突触的保守配置使得感觉信息能够差异化处理，从而部署情境特异性的行为策略。

研究人员表示，突触配置决定了神经系统如何处理感觉信息以产生行为反应。这一机制在化学突触中得到了最好的理解，而人们对于电突触配置如何调节感觉信息处理和特定情境下的行为了解较少。

附：英文原文

Title: Configuration of electrical synapses filters sensory information to drive behavioral choices

Author: Agustin Almoril-Porras, Ana C. Calvo, Longgang Niu, Jonathan Beagan, Malcom Díaz García, Josh D. Hawk, Ahmad Aljobeh, Elias M. Wisdom, Ivy Ren, Zhao-Wen Wang, Daniel A. Colón-Ramos

Issue&Volume: 2024-12-31

Abstract: Synaptic configurations underpin how the nervous system processes sensory information to produce a behavioral response. This is best understood for chemical synapses, and we know far less about how electrical synaptic configurations modulate sensory information processing and context-specific behaviors. We discovered that innexin 1 (INX-1), a gap junction protein that forms electrical synapses, is required to deploy context-specific behavioral strategies underlying thermotaxis behavior in C. elegans. Within this well-defined circuit, INX-1 couples two bilaterally symmetric interneurons to integrate sensory information during migratory behavior across temperature gradients. In inx-1 mutants, uncoupled interneurons display increased excitability and responses to subthreshold sensory stimuli due to increased membrane resistance and reduced membrane capacitance, resulting in abnormal responses that extend run durations and trap the animals in context-irrelevant tracking of isotherms. Thus, a conserved configuration of electrical synapses enables differential processing of sensory information to deploy context-specific behavioral strategies.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.11.037

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)01378-3