Monoaminergic Orchestration of Motor Programs in a Complex C. elegans Behavior

View/ Open
Author
Donnelly, Jamie L.
Clark, Christopher M.
Leifer, Andrew M.
Pirri, Jennifer K.
Haburcak, Marian
Francis, Michael M.
Alkema, Mark J.
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001529Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Donnelly, Jamie L., Christopher M. Clark, Andrew M. Leifer, Jennifer K. Pirri, Marian Haburcak, Michael M. Francis, Aravinthan DT Samuel, and Mark J. Alkema. 2013. Monoaminergic orchestration of motor programs in a complex C. elegans behavior. PLoS Biology 11(4): e1001529.Abstract
Monoamines provide chemical codes of behavioral states. However, the neural mechanisms of monoaminergic orchestration of behavior are poorly understood. Touch elicits an escape response in Caenorhabditis elegans where the animal moves backward and turns to change its direction of locomotion. We show that the tyramine receptor SER-2 acts through a \(G\alpha_o\) pathway to inhibit neurotransmitter release from GABAergic motor neurons that synapse onto ventral body wall muscles. Extrasynaptic activation of SER-2 facilitates ventral body wall muscle contraction, contributing to the tight ventral turn that allows the animal to navigate away from a threatening stimulus. Tyramine temporally coordinates the different phases of the escape response through the synaptic activation of the fast-acting ionotropic receptor, LGC-55, and extrasynaptic activation of the slow-acting metabotropic receptor, SER-2. Our studies show, at the level of single cells, how a sensory input recruits the action of a monoamine to change neural circuit properties and orchestrate a compound motor sequence.Other Sources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614513/pdf/Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11744319
Collections
- FAS Scholarly Articles [18172]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)