title: Molecular biology of thermosensory transduction in C. elegans.
abstract: As the environmental temperature prominently influences diverse biological aspects of the animals, thermosensation and the subsequent information processing in the nervous system has attracted much attention in biology. Thermotaxis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an ideal behavioral paradigm by which to address the molecular mechanism underlying thermosensory transduction. Molecular genetic analysis in combination with other physiological and behavioral studies revealed that sensation of ambient temperature is mediated mainly by cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling in thermosensory neurons. The information of the previously perceived temperature is also stored within the thermosensory neurons, and the consequence of the comparison between the past and the present temperature is conveyed to the downstream interneurons to further regulate the motor-circuits that encode the locomotion.
authors.affiliation: Group of Molecular Neurobiology, Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.affiliation: Group of Molecular Neurobiology, Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. Electronic address: m46920a@nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Ikue
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008967:Molecular Biology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013697:Thermosensing / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins