Signal Decoding for Glutamate Modulating Egg Laying Oppositely in Caenorhabditis elegans under Varied Environmental Conditions
Xin Wen,
Yuan-Hua Chen,
Rong Li,
Ming-Hai Ge,
Sheng-Wu Yin,
Jing-Jing Wu,
Jia-Hao Huang,
Hui Liu,
Ping-Zhou Wang,
Einav Gross,
Zheng-Xing Wu
Affiliations
Xin Wen
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Yuan-Hua Chen
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Rong Li
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Ming-Hai Ge
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Sheng-Wu Yin
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Jing-Jing Wu
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Jia-Hao Huang
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Hui Liu
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Ping-Zhou Wang
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Einav Gross
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, IMRIC, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Corresponding author
Zheng-Xing Wu
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Animals' ability to sense environmental cues and to integrate this information to control fecundity is vital for continuing the species lineage. In this study, we observed that the sensory neurons Amphid neuron (ASHs and ADLs) differentially regulate egg-laying behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans under varied environmental conditions via distinct neuronal circuits. Under standard culture conditions, ASHs tonically release a small amount of glutamate and inhibit Hermaphrodite specific motor neuron (HSN) activities and egg laying via a highly sensitive Glutamate receptor (GLR)-5 receptor. In contrast, under Cu2+ stimulation, ASHs and ADLs may release a large amount of glutamate and inhibit Amphid interneuron (AIA) interneurons via low-sensitivity Glutamate-gated chloride channel (GLC)-3 receptor, thus removing the inhibitory roles of AIAs on HSN activity and egg laying. However, directly measuring the amount of glutamate released by sensory neurons under different conditions and assaying the binding kinetics of receptors with the neurotransmitter are still required to support this study directly.
