C. elegans locomotory rate is modulated by the environment through a dopaminergic pathway and by experience through a serotonergic pathway.
Caenorhabditis elegans modulates its locomotory rate in response to its food, bacteria, in two ways. First, well-fed wild-type animals move more slowly in the presence of bacteria than in the absence of bacteria. This basal slowing response is mediated by a dopamine-containing neural circuit that senses a mechanical attribute of bacteria and may be an adaptive mechanism that increases the amount of time animals spend in the presence of food. Second, food-deprived wild-type animals, when transferred to bacteria, display a dramatically enhanced slowing response that ensures that the animals do not leave their newly encountered source of food. This experience-dependent response is mediated by serotonergic neurotransmission and is potentiated by fluoxetine (Prozac). The basal and enhanced slowing responses are distinct and separable neuromodulatory components of a genetically tractable paradigm of behavioral plasticity.
Sawin
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
Ranganathan
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Horvitz
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D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002374:Catalase / Q000235:genetics; D004298:Dopamine / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005508:Food Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D013997:Time Factors; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002374:Catalase; D004298:Dopamine; D005473:Fluoxetine; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; D012701:Serotonin; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D015534:Trans-Activators; C088760:cat-2 protein, C elegans