WWW.JNEUROSCI.ORG
-
The Journal of Neuroscience
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     
-


HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP
The Journal of Neuroscience, June 3, 2009, 29(22):7302-7314; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3429-08.2009

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gaglia, M. M.
Right arrow Articles by Kenyon, C.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gaglia, M. M.
Right arrow Articles by Kenyon, C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Stimulation of Movement in a Quiescent, Hibernation-Like Form of Caenorhabditis elegans by Dopamine Signaling

Marta Maria Gaglia1,2 and Cynthia Kenyon1,2

1Neuroscience Program and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and 2Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Cynthia Kenyon, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, MC2200, Mission Bay Genentech Hall Room S312D, 600 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94158-2517. Email: cynthia.kenyon{at}ucsf.edu

One of the characteristics of animals in hibernation is reduced behavioral activity. The Caenorhabditis elegans dauer state is a hibernation-like state of diapause that displays a dramatic reduction in spontaneous locomotion. A similar dauer-like quiescent state is produced in adults by relatively strong mutations in the insulin/IGF-1 receptor homolog daf-2. In this study, we show that mutations affecting the neurotransmitter dopamine, which regulates voluntary movement in many organisms, can stimulate movement in dauers and dauer-like quiescent adults. Surprisingly, the movement of quiescent animals is stimulated by conditions that reduce dopamine signaling and also by conditions predicted to increase dopamine signaling. Reducing dopamine signaling is likely to stimulate movement by activating a foraging response also seen in nondauers after withdrawal of food. In contrast, the stimulation of movement by increased dopamine is much more pronounced in quiescent daf-2(–) dauer and dauer-like adult animals than in nondauaer animals. This altered response to dopamine is primarily attributable to activity of the FOXO (forkhead box O) transcription factor DAF-16 in neurons. We suggest that dauers and dauer-like quiescent adults may have underlying changes in the dopamine system that enable them to respond differently to environmental stimulation.

Received July 21, 2008; revised March 31, 2009; accepted April 6, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Cynthia Kenyon, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, MC2200, Mission Bay Genentech Hall Room S312D, 600 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94158-2517. Email: cynthia.kenyon{at}ucsf.edu






 -
-

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help
-
Copyright 2009 by Society for Neuroscience ONLINE ISSN: 1529-2401
-