Olfactory experience primes the heat shock transcription factor HSF-1 to enhance the expression of molecular chaperones in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: Learning, a process by which animals modify their behavior as a result of experience, enables organisms to synthesize information from their surroundings to acquire resources and avoid danger. We showed that a previous encounter with only the odor of pathogenic bacteria prepared Caenorhabditis elegans to survive exposure to the pathogen by increasing the heat shock factor 1 (HSF-1)-dependent expression of genes encoding molecular chaperones. Experience-mediated enhancement of chaperone gene expression required serotonin, which primed HSF-1 to enhance the expression of molecular chaperone genes by promoting its localization to RNA polymerase II-enriched nuclear loci, even before transcription occurred. However, HSF-1-dependent chaperone gene expression was stimulated only if and when

SUBMITTER: Ooi FK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5821467 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature