Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, DGIST, Daegu, Korea.
Electron Microscopy Research Center, Korea Basic Science Institute, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea.
EMBO J. 2018 Aug 1;37(15). doi: 10.15252/embj.201798402. Epub 2018 Jun 19.
Animals change sensory responses and their eventual behaviors, depending on their internal metabolic status and external food availability. However, the mechanisms underlying feeding state-dependent behavioral changes remain undefined. Previous studies have shown that hermaphrodite exhibits avoidance behaviors to acute exposure of a pheromone, ascr#3 (asc-ΔC9, C9). Here, we show that the ascr#3 avoidance behavior is modulated by feeding state via the insulin signaling pathway. Starvation increases ascr#3 avoidance behavior, and loss-of-function mutations in insulin-like receptor gene dampen this starvation-induced ascr#3 avoidance behavior. DAF-2 and its downstream signaling molecules, including the DAF-16 FOXO transcription factor, act in the ascr#3-sensing ADL neurons to regulate synaptic transmission to downstream target neurons, including the AVA command interneurons. Moreover, we found that starvation decreases the secretion of INS-18 insulin-like peptides from the intestine, which antagonizes DAF-2 function in the ADL neurons. Altogether, this study provides insights about the molecular communication between intestine and sensory neurons delivering hunger message to sensory neurons, which regulates avoidance behavior from pheromones to facilitate survival chance.
动物会根据内部代谢状态和外部食物供应情况改变感觉反应和最终行为。然而，进食状态依赖性行为变化的机制仍未定义。先前的研究表明，雌雄同体表现出对信息素 asc#3（asc-ΔC9，C9）的急性暴露的回避行为。在这里，我们表明，通过胰岛素信号通路，进食状态调节了 asc#3 的回避行为。饥饿会增加 asc#3 的回避行为，胰岛素受体基因的功能丧失突变会减弱这种饥饿诱导的 asc#3 回避行为。DAF-2 及其下游信号分子，包括 DAF-16 FOXO 转录因子，在感知 asc#3 的 ADL 神经元中发挥作用，调节到下游靶神经元的突触传递，包括 AVA 命令中间神经元。此外，我们发现饥饿会减少来自肠道的 INS-18 胰岛素样肽的分泌，从而拮抗 ADL 神经元中的 DAF-2 功能。总之，这项研究提供了关于肠和感觉神经元之间分子通讯的见解，这些通讯将饥饿信息传递给感觉神经元，从而调节从信息素来逃避行为，以提高生存机会。
