Mammalian TRPV4 (VR-OAC) directs behavioral responses to osmotic and mechanical stimuli in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: All animals detect osmotic and mechanical stimuli, but the molecular basis for these responses is incompletely understood. The vertebrate transient receptor potential channel vanilloid subfamily 4 (TRPV4) (VR-OAC) cation channel has been suggested to be an osmo/mechanosensory channel. To assess its function in vivo, we expressed TRPV4 in Caenorhabditis elegans sensory neurons and examined its ability to generate behavioral responses to sensory stimuli. C. elegans ASH neurons function as polymodal sensory neurons that generate a characteristic escape behavior in response to mechanical, osmotic, or olfactory stimuli. These behaviors require the TRPV channel OSM-9 because osm-9 mutants do not avoid nose touch, high osmolarity, or noxious odors. Expression of mammalian TRPV4 in ASH neurons of

SUBMITTER: Liedtke W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC304114 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature