title: The Caenorhabditis elegans interneuron ALA is (also) a high-threshold mechanosensor.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To survive dynamic environments, it is essential for all animals to appropriately modulate their behavior in response to various stimulus intensities. For instance, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans suppresses the rate of egg-laying in response to intense mechanical stimuli, in a manner dependent on the mechanosensory neurons FLP and PVD. We have found that the unilaterally placed single interneuron ALA acted as a high-threshold mechanosensor, and that it was required for this protective behavioral response.
  
  
  RESULTS
  ALA was required for the inhibition of egg-laying in response to a strong (picking-like) mechanical stimulus, characteristic of routine handling of the animals. Moreover, ALA did not respond physiologically to less intense touch stimuli, but exhibited distinct physiological responses to anterior and posterior picking-like touch, suggesting that it could distinguish between spatially separated stimuli. These responses required neither neurotransmitter nor neuropeptide release from potential upstream neurons. In contrast, the long, bilaterally symmetric processes of ALA itself were required for producing its physiological responses; when they were severed, responses to stimuli administered between the cut and the cell body were unaffected, while responses to stimuli administered posterior to the cut were abolished.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  C. elegans neurons are typically classified into three major groups: sensory neurons with specialized sensory dendrites, interneurons, and motoneurons with neuromuscular junctions. Our findings suggest that ALA can autonomously sense intense touch and is thus a dual-function neuron, i.e., an interneuron as well as a novel high-threshold mechanosensor.
authors.forename: Jarred
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: Stanislav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fetterman
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Millet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Treinin
authors.affiliation: The Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. david.biron@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Biron
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D007395:Interneurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology