INX-18 and INX-19 play distinct roles in electrical synapses that modulate aversive behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: In order to respond to changing environments and fluctuations in internal states, animals adjust their behavior through diverse neuromodulatory mechanisms. In this study we show that electrical synapses between the ASH primary quinine-detecting sensory neurons and the neighboring ASK neurons are required for modulating the aversive response to the bitter tastant quinine in C. elegans. Mutant worms that lack the electrical synapse proteins INX-18 and INX-19 become hypersensitive to dilute quinine. Cell-specific rescue experiments indicate that inx-18 operates in ASK while inx-19 is required in both ASK and ASH for proper quinine sensitivity. Imaging analyses find that INX-19 in ASK and ASH localizes to the same regions in the nerve ring, suggesting that both sides of ASK-ASH electrical syna

SUBMITTER: Voelker L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6837551 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature