Heat avoidance is regulated by transient receptor potential (TRP) channels and a neuropeptide signaling pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Heat avoidance is regulated by transient receptor potential (TRP) channels and a neuropeptide signaling pathway in C. elegans

TRP channels in C. elegans.

The TRP (transient receptor potential) superfamily of cation channels is present in all eukaryotes, from yeast to mammals. Many TRP channels have been studied in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, revealing novel biological functions, regulatory modes, and mechanisms of localization. C. elegans TRPV channels function in olfaction, mechanosensation, osmosensation, and activity-dependent gene r...

OSM-9, a novel protein with structural similarity to channels, is required for olfaction, mechanosensation, and olfactory adaptation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Although cyclic nucleotide-gated channels mediate sensory transduction in olfaction and vision, other forms of sensory transduction are independent of these channels. Caenorhabditis elegans cyclic nucleotide-gated channel mutants respond normally to some olfactory stimuli and to osmotic stimuli, suggesting that these chemosensory responses use an alternative sensory transduction pathway. One ge...

Acute carbon dioxide avoidance in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Carbon dioxide is produced as a by-product of cellular respiration by all aerobic organisms and thus serves for many animals as an important indicator of food, mates, and predators. However, whether free-living terrestrial nematodes such as Caenorhabditis elegans respond to CO2 was unclear. We have demonstrated that adult C. elegans display an acute avoidance response upon exposure to CO2 that ...

IRK-1 potassium channels mediate peptidergic inhibition of Caenorhabditis elegans serotonin neurons via a G(o) signaling pathway.

To identify molecular mechanisms that function in G-protein signaling, we have performed molecular genetic studies of a simple behavior of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, egg laying, which is driven by a pair of serotonergic neurons, the hermaphrodite-specific neurons (HSNs). The activity of the HSNs is regulated by the G(o)-coupled receptor EGL-6, which mediates inhibition of the HSNs by ...