EFN-4/Ephrin converges with SAX-3/Robo, UNC-6/Netrin, and Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycan signaling to control MAB-5/Hox-dependent posterior Q neuroblast migration in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Hox genes have been broadly implicated in nervous system development, but the molecular and genetic mechanisms that act downstream of Hox factors remain to be identified. The MAB-5 antennapedia-like Hox transcription factor is both necessary and sufficient to cause posterior migration of the Q neuroblast descendants in Caenorhabditis elegans. In response to MAB-5, the left-side QL descendants QL.a and QL.ap undergo a three-stage migration process, with each stage characterized by a posterior lamellipodial protrusion followed by cell body migration. The QL.ap cell differentiates into the PQR neuron posterior to the anus. Previous studies showed that the MAB-5-regulated gene efn-4/Ephrin was required for the third and final stage of QL.ap migration, with efn-4 mutation resulting in placement of PQR immediately anterior to the anus. This subtle and previously-undescribed phenotype opens the possibility that other known neuronal development genes could be involved. In this work, we screened known signaling mutants for third-stage PQR migration defects. We found that mutations in SAX-3/Robo signaling, UNC-6/Netrin signaling, and heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) all displayed third-stage PQR migration defects. The effects in single mutants were weak compared to efn-4, and double mutant analysis revealed lack of genetic synergy, consistent with all of these molecules converging on a common pathway. This genetic analysis is consistent with physical interaction studies in vitro from another group that suggest that these molecules form connected communities of interacting extracellular domains, raising the possibility that they are all components of a large extracellular signaling complex required for posterior QL.ap migration. In this model, we envision that MAB-5/Hox drives EFN-4/Ephrin expression in QL.ap, which then seeds the formation of an extracellular signaling complex containing SAX-3/Robo signaling, UNC-6/Netrin signaling, and HSPGs that drives posterior lamellipodial formation and posterior migration.