Intestinal signaling to GABAergic neurons regulates a rhythmic behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: The Caenorhabditis elegans defecation motor program (DMP) is a highly coordinated rhythmic behavior that requires two GABAergic neurons that synapse onto the enteric muscles. One class of DMP mutants, called anterior body wall muscle contraction and expulsion defective (aex) mutants, exhibits similar defects to those caused by the loss of these two neurons. Here, we demonstrate that aex-2 encodes a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and aex-4 encodes an exocytic SNAP25 homologue. We found that aex-2 functions in the nervous system and activates a G(s)alpha signaling pathway to regulate defecation. aex-4, on the other hand, functions in the intestinal epithelial cells. Furthermore, we show that aex-5, which encodes a pro-protein convertase, functions in the intestine to regulate the DMP and

SUBMITTER: Mahoney TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2570992 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature