title: Synaptic activity of the AFD neuron in Caenorhabditis elegans correlates with thermotactic memory.
abstract: Thermotactic behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans is sensitive to both a worm's ambient temperature (T(amb)) and its memory of the temperature of its cultivation (T(cult)). The AFD neuron is part of a neural circuit that underlies thermotactic behavior. By monitoring the fluorescence of pH-sensitive green fluorescent protein localized to synaptic vesicles, we measured the rate of the synaptic release of AFD in worms cultivated at temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees C, and subjected to fixed, ambient temperatures in the same range. We found that the rate of AFD synaptic release is high if either T(amb) > T(cult) or T(amb) < T(cult), but AFD synaptic release is low if T(amb) congruent with T(cult). This suggests that AFD encodes a direct comparison between T(amb) and T(cult).
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Aravinthan D T
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.forename: Ruwan A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Venkatesh N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Murthy
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005089:Exocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D036681:Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D038761:Photobleaching; D050683:R-SNARE Proteins; D051381:Rats; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*; D013572:Synaptic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism; D013696:Temperature; D013697:Thermosensing / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D050683:R-SNARE Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins