title: Sensory systems: their impact on C. elegans survival.
abstract: An animal's survival strongly depends on a nervous system that can rapidly process and integrate the changing quality of its environment and promote the most appropriate physiological responses. This is amply demonstrated in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, where its sensory system has been shown to impact multiple physiological traits that range from behavior and developmental plasticity to longevity. Because of the accessibility of its nervous system and the number of tools available to study and manipulate its neural circuitry, C. elegans has thus become an important model organism in dissecting the mechanisms through which the nervous system promotes survival. Here we review our current understanding of how the C. elegans sensory system affects diverse physiological traits, whose coordination would be essential for survival under fluctuating environments. The knowledge we derive from the C. elegans studies should provide testable hypotheses in discovering similar mechanisms in higher animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48334, USA.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48334, USA.
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alcedo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008136:Longevity; D023421:Models, Animal; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
keywords: C. elegans; developmental plasticity; insulin-like peptides; learning; lifespan; sensory system