Experience-dependent, sexually dimorphic synaptic connectivity defined by sex-specific cadherin expression.

Abstract

Early-life experience influences subsequent maturation and function of the adult brain, sometimes even in a sex-specific manner, but underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. We describe here how juvenile experience defines sexually dimorphic synaptic connectivity in the adult <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> nervous system. Starvation of juvenile males disrupts serotonin-dependent activation of the CREB transcription factor in a nociceptive sensory neuron, PHB. CREB acts through a cascade of transcription factors to control expression of an atypical cadherin protein, FMI-1/Flamingo/CELSR. During postembryonic development, FMI-1 promotes and maintains synaptic connectivity of PHB to a command interneuron, AVA, in both sexes, but a serotonin-dependent transcriptional regulatory cassette antagonizes FMI-1 expression in males, thereby establishing sexually dimorphic connectivity between PHB and AVA. A critical regulatory node is the CREB-target LIN-29, a Zn finger transcription factor that integrates four layers of information: sexual specificity, past experience, time and cell-type specificity. Our findings provide the mechanistic details of how an early juvenile experience defines sexually dimorphic synaptic connectivity.