RRC ID 76250
著者 Nakano S, Nakayama A, Kuroyanagi H, Yamashiro R, Tsukada Y, Mori I.
タイトル Genetic screens identified dual roles of microtubule-associated serine threonine kinase and CREB within a single thermosensory neuron in the regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans thermotaxis behavior.
ジャーナル G3 (Bethesda)
Abstract Animals integrate sensory stimuli presented at the past and present, assess the changes in their surroundings and navigate themselves toward preferred environment. Identifying the neural mechanisms of such sensory integration is pivotal to understand how the nervous system generates perception and behavior. Previous studies on thermotaxis behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans suggested that a single thermosensory neuron AFD plays an important role in integrating the past and present temperature information and is essential for the neural computation that drives the animal toward the preferred temperature region. However, the molecular mechanisms by which AFD executes this neural function remained elusive. Here we report multiple forward genetic screens to identify genes required for thermotaxis. We reveal that kin-4, which encodes the C. elegans homolog of microtubule-associated serine threonine kinase, plays dual roles in thermotaxis and can promote both cryophilic and thermophilic drives. We also uncover that a thermophilic defect of mutants for mec-2, which encodes a C. elegans homolog of stomatin, can be suppressed by a loss-of-function mutation in the gene crh-1, encoding a C. elegans homolog CREB transcription factor. Expression of crh-1 in AFD restored the crh-1-dependent suppression of the mec-2 thermotaxis phenotype, indicating that crh-1 can function in AFD to regulate thermotaxis. Calcium imaging analysis from freely moving animals suggest that mec-2 and crh-1 regulate the neuronal activity of the AIY interneuron, a postsynaptic partner of the AFD neuron. Our results suggest that a stomatin family protein can control the dynamics of neural circuitry through the CREB-dependent transcriptional regulation within a sensory neuron.
巻・号 12(11)
公開日 2022-11-4
DOI 10.1093/g3journal/jkac248
PII 6697886
PMID 36102820
PMC PMC9635662
MeSH Animals Behavior, Animal / physiology Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins* / genetics Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins* / metabolism Microtubules / metabolism Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics Sensory Receptor Cells / metabolism Taxis Response* Temperature Transcription Factors / metabolism
リソース情報
線虫 tm1049