Abstract
The C. elegans tax-4 mutants are abnormal in multiple sensory behaviors: they fail to respond to temperature or to water-soluble or volatile chemical attractants. We show that the predicted tax-4 gene product is highly homologous to vertebrate cyclic nucleotide-gated channels. Tax-4 protein expressed in cultured cells functions as a cyclic nucleotide-gated channel. The green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged functional Tax-4 protein is expressed in thermosensory, gustatory, and olfactory neurons mediating all the sensory behaviors affected by the tax-4 mutations. The Tax-4::GFP fusion is partly localized at the sensory endings of these neurons. The results suggest that a cyclic nucleotide-gated channel is required for thermosensation and chemosensation and that cGMP is an important intracellular messenger in C. elegans sensory transduction.
Publication types
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Comparative Study
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans / physiology*
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins*
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Cattle
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Chemotaxis
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Cyclic GMP / metabolism*
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Drosophila
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Drosophila Proteins
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Genes, Helminth
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Green Fluorescent Proteins
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Humans
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Ion Channels / biosynthesis*
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Ion Channels / chemistry
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Ion Channels / genetics
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Luminescent Proteins / biosynthesis
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Macromolecular Substances
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Membrane Potentials
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Mutagenesis
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Neurons, Afferent / physiology*
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Potassium Channels / chemistry
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Protein Structure, Secondary
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Rats
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins / biosynthesis
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Second Messenger Systems
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Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
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Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels
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Temperature
Substances
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
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Drosophila Proteins
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Ion Channels
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Luminescent Proteins
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Macromolecular Substances
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Potassium Channels
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins
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Sh protein, Drosophila
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Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels
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tax-4 protein, C elegans
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Green Fluorescent Proteins
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Cyclic GMP