Memory of recent oxygen experience switches pheromone valence in Caenorhabditis elegans

Animals adjust their behavioral priorities according to momentary needs and prior experience. We show that Caenorhabditis elegans changes how it processes sensory information according to the oxygen environment it experienced recently. C. elegans acclimated to 7% O^sub 2^ are aroused by CO^sub 2^ and repelled by pheromones that attract animals acclimated to 21% O^sub 2^. This behavioral plasticity arises from prolonged activity differences in a circuit that continuously signals O^sub 2^ levels. A sustained change in the activity of O^sub 2^-sensing neurons reprograms the properties of their postsynaptic partners, the RMG hub interneurons. RMG is gap-junctionally coupled to the ASK and ADL pheromone sensors that respectively drive pheromone attraction and repulsion. Prior O^sub 2^ experience has opposite effects on the pheromone responsiveness of these neurons. These circuit changes provide a physiological correlate of altered pheromone valence. Our results suggest C. elegans stores a memory of recent O2 experience in the RMG circuit and illustrate how a circuit is flexibly sculpted to guide behavioral decisions in a context-dependent manner..

Medienart:

Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2017

Erschienen:

2017

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:114

Enthalten in:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - 114(2017), 16, Seite 4195

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Fenk, Lorenz A [VerfasserIn]
Bono, Mario de [Sonstige Person]

Links:

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Themen:

Animal behavior
Animals
Caenorhabditis elegans
Information processing
Interneurons
Memory
Nematodes
Oxygen
Pheromones
Physiological aspects
Plasticity (behavioral)
Valence

doi:

10.1073/pnas.1618934114

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

OLC1995551503