C. elegans Locomotory Rate Is Modulated by the Environment through a Dopaminergic Pathway and by Experience through a Serotonergic Pathway
Open accessAbstract
Caenorhabditis elegans modulates its locomotory rate in response to its food, bacteria, in two ways. First, well-fed wild-type animals move more slowly in the presence of bacteria than in the absence of bacteria. This basal slowing response is mediated by a dopamine-containing neural circuit that senses a mechanical attribute of bacteria and may be an adaptive mechanism that increases the amount of time animals spend in the presence of food. Second, food-deprived wild-type animals, when transferred to bacteria, display a dramatically enhanced slowing response that ensures that the animals do not leave their newly encountered source of food. This experience-dependent response is mediated by serotonergic neurotransmission and is potentiated by fluoxetine (Prozac). The basal and enhanced slowing responses are distinct and separable neuromodulatory components of a genetically tractable paradigm of behavioral plasticity.
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The sufficiency of this circuit and circuit mechanism does not rule out other likely contributions to the locomotion system, including other ventral cord motor neurons, the head motor circuit, and neuromodulation.
“Of course, the sufficiency of this circuit and circuit mechanism in no way rules out a range of other likely contributions to the locomotion system, including participation of other ventral cord motor neurons (e.g., of classes AS and VC), effects due to the largely independent head motor circuit, and indeed contributions from neuromodulation (Sawin et al., 2000).”
From Gait Modulation in C. elegans: An Integrated Neuromechanical Model (2012) · cites this paper as Sawin et al., 2000
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- Authors
- Sawin, E. R., Ranganathan, R., & Horvitz, H. R.
- Affiliations
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Horvitz, H.Robert
- ORCID
- Horvitz, H.Robert
- Venue
- Neuron
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2000-06
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 619-631
- ISSN
- 0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2108024591
- Cited by
- 1,076
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 66 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 71 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 53 · 2012: 47
- FWCI
- 4.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuron (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM 24663)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Keywords
- Caenorhabditis elegans, dopamine, serotonergic neurotransmission, fluoxetine, behavioral plasticity, food deprivation, neuromodulation, experience-dependent behavior
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Catalase, Dopamine, Environment, Escherichia coli, Fluoxetine, Food Deprivation, Fungal Proteins, Mixed Function Oxygenases, Mechanoreceptors, Motor Activity, Mutation, Neurons, Serotonin, Time Factors, Trans-Activators, Helminth Proteins, Caenorhabditis elegans, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
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