Department of Biology, Functional Genomics and Proteomics Unit, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Science. 2012 Oct 26;338(6106):543-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1226860.
Vasopressin- and oxytocin-related neuropeptides are key regulators of animal physiology, including water balance and reproduction. Although these neuropeptides also modulate social behavior and cognition in mammals, the mechanism for influencing behavioral plasticity and the evolutionary origin of these effects are not well understood. Here, we present a functional vasopressin- and oxytocin-like signaling system in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Through activation of its receptor NTR-1, a vasopressin/oxytocin-related neuropeptide, designated nematocin, facilitates the experience-driven modulation of salt chemotaxis, a type of gustatory associative learning in C. elegans. Our study suggests that vasopressin and oxytocin neuropeptides have ancient roles in modulating sensory processing in neural circuits that underlie behavioral plasticity.
血管加压素和催产素相关神经肽是动物生理学的关键调节剂，包括水平衡和繁殖。尽管这些神经肽也调节哺乳动物的社会行为和认知，但影响行为可塑性的机制和这些影响的进化起源尚不清楚。在这里，我们在秀丽隐杆线虫中展示了一个功能性的血管加压素和催产素样信号系统。通过其受体 NTR-1 的激活，一种血管加压素/催产素相关神经肽，命名为线虫肽，促进了盐趋化性的经验驱动调节，这是秀丽隐杆线虫中的一种味觉联想学习。我们的研究表明，血管加压素和催产素神经肽在调节行为可塑性的神经回路中的感觉处理中具有古老的作用。
