Genetic Variants That Modify the Neuroendocrine Regulation of Foraging Behavior in .

The molecular mechanisms underlying diversity in animal behavior are not well understood. A major experimental challenge is determining the contribution of genetic variants that affect neuronal gene expression to differences in behavioral traits. The neuroendocrine TGF-beta ligand, DAF-7, regulates diverse behavioral responses of to bacterial food and pathogens. The dynamic neuron-specific expression of is modulated by environmental and endogenous bacteria-derived cues. Here, we investigated natural variation in the expression of from the ASJ pair of chemosensory neurons and identified common variants in , encoding a GTPase-Activating Protein homologous to mammalian SynGAP proteins, which modify expression cell-non-autonomously and promote exploratory foraging behavior in a DAF-7-dependent manner. Our data connect natural variation in neuron-specific gene expression to differences in behavior and suggest that genetic variation in neuroendocrine signaling pathways mediating host-microbe interactions may give rise to diversity in animal behavior.