Dopamine modulates the plasticity of mechanosensory responses in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Dopamine-modulated behaviors, including information processing and reward, are subject to behavioral plasticity. Disruption of these behaviors is thought to support drug addictions and psychoses. The plasticity of dopamine-mediated behaviors, for example, habituation and sensitization, are not well understood at the molecular level. We show that in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a D1-like dopamine receptor gene (dop-1) modulates the plasticity of mechanosensory behaviors in which dopamine had not been implicated previously. A mutant of dop-1 displayed faster habituation to nonlocalized mechanical stimulation. This phenotype was rescued by the introduction of a wild-type copy of the gene. The dop-1 gene is expressed in mechanosensory neurons, particularly the ALM and PLM neurons. Selective expression of the dop-1 gene in mechanosensory neurons using the mec-7 promoter rescues the mechanosensory deficit in dop-1 mutant animals. The tyrosine hydroxylase-deficient C. elegans mutant (cat-2) also displays these specific behavioral deficits. These observations provide genetic evidence that dopamine signaling modulates behavioral plasticity in C. elegans.
Sanyal
Suparna
S
Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto & Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.
Wintle
Richard F
RF
Kindt
Katie S
KS
Nuttley
William M
WM
Arvan
Rokhand
R
Fitzmaurice
Paul
P
Bigras
Eve
E
Merz
David C
DC
Hébert
Terence E
TE
van der Kooy
Derek
D
Schafer
William R
WR
Culotti
Joseph G
JG
Van Tol
Hubert H M
HH
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000494:pharmacology; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D009154:Mutation; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000378:metabolism; D017447:Receptors, Dopamine D1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C488450:Dop-1 protein, C elegans; D017447:Receptors, Dopamine D1; D004298:Dopamine