A conserved neuronal DAF-16/FoxO plays an important role in conveying pheromone signals to elicit repulsion behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Animals use pheromones as a conspecific chemical language to respond appropriately to environmental changes. The soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans secretes ascaroside pheromones throughout the lifecycle, which influences entry into dauer phase in early larvae, in addition to sexual attraction and aggregation. In adult hermaphrodites, pheromone sensory signals perceived by worms usually elicit repulsion as an initial behavioral signature. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal pheromone sensory process from perception to repulsion in adult hermaphrodites remain poorly understood. Here, we show that pheromone signals perceived by GPA-3 is conveyed through glutamatergic neurotransmission in which neuronal DAF-16/FoxO plays an important modulatory role by controlling glutamin

SUBMITTER: Park D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5543152 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature