UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Neurobiology; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Alkema Lab
Publication Date
2022-03-03
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Behavioral Neurobiology
Abstract
Co-localization and co-transmission of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides is a core property of neural signaling across species. While co-transmission can increase the flexibility of cellular communication, understanding the functional impact on neural dynamics and behavior remains a major challenge. Here we examine the role of neuropeptide/monoamine co-transmission in the orchestration of the C. elegans escape response. The tyraminergic RIM neurons, which coordinate distinct motor programs of the escape response, also co-express the neuropeptide encoding gene flp-18. We find that in response to a mechanical stimulus, flp-18 mutants have defects in locomotory arousal and head bending that facilitate the omega turn. We show that the induction of the escape response leads to the release of FLP-18 neuropeptides. FLP-18 modulates the escape response through the activation of the G-protein coupled receptor NPR-5. FLP-18 increases intracellular calcium levels in neck and body wall muscles to promote body bending. Our results show that FLP-18 and tyramine act in different tissues in both a complementary and antagonistic manner to control distinct motor programs during different phases of the C. elegans flight response. Our study reveals basic principles by which co-transmission of monoamines and neuropeptides orchestrate in arousal and behavior in response to stress.
Keywords
Biological locomotion, Caenorhabditis elegans, Neuropeptides, Neurons, Animal behavior, Hyperexpression techniques, Motor neurons, Head
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2022 Florman, Alkema. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
DOI of Published Version
10.1371/journal.pgen.1010091
Source
Florman JT, Alkema MJ. Co-transmission of neuropeptides and monoamines choreograph the C. elegans escape response. PLoS Genet. 2022 Mar 3;18(3):e1010091. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010091. PMID: 35239681; PMCID: PMC8932558. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
PLoS genetics
PubMed ID
35239681
Repository Citation
Florman JT, Alkema MJ. (2022). Co-transmission of neuropeptides and monoamines choreograph the C. elegans escape response. UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010091. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/2202
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.