ArticlePLoS biology2008
A putative cation channel, NCA-1, and a novel protein, UNC-80, transmit neuronal activity in C. elegans.
Article in PLoS biology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers.
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Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 130 citations in OpenAlex.
- The NALCN channel complex is necessary for stabilizing sleep in Caenorhabditis elegans.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Article
- Identification of molecular nociceptors in Octopus vulgaris through functional characterisation in Caenorhabditis elegans.Biology open · 2026Article
- Rho signaling promotes cell excitability and synaptic transmission.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Systematized Serendipity: Fishing Expeditions for Anesthetic Drugs and Targets.Anesthesiology · 2024Review
- Imbalance inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Unplugging lateral fenestrations of NALCN reveals a hidden drug binding site within the pore region.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- NALCN Channels Are Not Major targets of GαmicroPublication biology · 2024Article
- Genome-wide parallelism underlies contemporary adaptation in urban lizards.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- A Compact Imaging Platform for ConductingLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Role of sodium leak channel (NALCN) in sensation and pain: an overview.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Review
- Transcriptomic analyses implicate neuronal plasticity and chloride homeostasis in ivermectin resistance and response to treatment in a parasitic nematode.PLoS pathogens · 2022Article
- Structure and mechanism of NALCN-FAM155A-UNC79-UNC80 channel complex.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Architecture of the human NALCN channelosome.Cell discovery · 2022Article
- Differential modulation of C. elegans motor behavior by NALCN and two-pore domain potassium channels.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Article
- Case Report: AFrontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- Motor Rhythm Dissection From the Backward Circuit inFrontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Article
- Article
- Caenorhabditis elegans for rare disease modeling and drug discovery: strategies and strengths.Disease models & mechanisms · 2021Review
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Voltage-gated cation channels regulate neuronal excitability through selective ion flux. NALCN, a member of a protein family that is structurally related to the alpha1 subunits of voltage-gated sodium/calcium channels, was recently shown to regulate the resting membrane potentials by mediating sodium leak and the firing of mouse neurons. We identified a role for the Caenorhabditis elegans NALCN homologues NCA-1 and NCA-2 in the propagation of neuronal activity from cell bodies to synapses. Loss of NCA activities leads to reduced synaptic transmission at neuromuscular junctions and frequent halting in locomotion. In vivo calcium imaging experiments further indicate that while calcium influx in the cell bodies of egg-laying motorneurons is unaffected by altered NCA activity, synaptic calcium transients are significantly reduced in nca loss-of-function mutants and increased in nca gain-of-function mutants. NCA-1 localizes along axons and is enriched at nonsynaptic regions. Its localization and function depend on UNC-79, and UNC-80, a novel conserved protein that is also enriched at nonsynaptic regions. We propose that NCA-1 and UNC-80 regulate neuronal activity at least in part by transmitting depolarization signals to synapses in C. elegans neurons.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.