Contrasting responses within a single neuron class enable sex-specific attraction in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Animals find mates and food, and avoid predators, by navigating to regions within a favorable range of available sensory cues. How are these ranges set and recognized? Here we show that male Caenorhabditis elegans exhibit strong concentration preferences for sex-specific small molecule cues secreted by hermaphrodites, and that these preferences emerge from the collective dynamics of a single male-specific class of neurons, the cephalic sensory neurons (CEMs). Within a single worm, CEM responses are dissimilar, not determined by anatomical classification and can be excitatory or inhibitory. Response kinetics vary by concentration, suggesting a mechanism for establishing preferences. CEM responses are enhanced in the absence of synaptic transmission, and worms with only one intact CEM show n

SUBMITTER: Narayan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4791020 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature