title: A novel and conserved protein AHO-3 is required for thermotactic plasticity associated with feeding states in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Although a large proportion of molecules expressed in the nervous system are conserved from invertebrate to vertebrate, functional properties of such molecules are less characterized. Here, we show that highly conserved hydrolase AHO-3 acts as a novel regulator of starvation-induced thermotactic plasticity in Caenorhabditis elegans. As wild-type animals, aho-3 mutants migrated to the cultivation temperature on a linear thermal gradient after cultivation at a particular temperature with food. Whereas wild-type animals cultivated under food-deprived condition showed dispersed distribution on the gradient, aho-3 mutants exhibited tendency to migrate toward higher temperature. Such an abnormal behavior was completely rescued by the expression of human homologue of AHO-3, indicating that the molecular function of AHO-3 is highly conserved between nematode and human. The behavioral regulation by AHO-3 requires the N-terminal cysteine cluster, which ensures the proper subcellular localization of AHO-3 to sensory endings. Double-mutant analysis suggested that AHO-3 acts in the same pathway with ODR-3, a heterotrimeric G protein alpha subunit. Our results unveiled a novel neural protein in C. elegans, confirming its conserved role in behavioral regulation.
authors.affiliation: Group of Molecular Neurobiology, Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furou-cho, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohri-Shiomi
authors.forename: Yukuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hiramatsu
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kodama-Namba
authors.forename: Kotaro D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuhara
authors.forename: Ikue
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005508:Food Deprivation; D006801:Humans; D006867:Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C574381:ABHD17B protein, human; C574380:AHO-3 protein, C elegans; D006867:Hydrolases