Abstract
CO(2) is both a critical regulator of animal physiology and an important sensory cue for many animals for host detection, food location, and mate finding. The free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans shows CO(2) avoidance behavior, which requires a pair of ciliated sensory neurons, the BAG neurons. Using in vivo calcium imaging, we show that CO(2) specifically activates the BAG neurons and that the CO(2)-sensing function of BAG neurons requires TAX-2/TAX-4 cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels and the receptor-type guanylate cyclase GCY-9. Our results delineate a molecular pathway for CO(2) sensing and suggest that activation of a receptor-type guanylate cyclase is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism by which animals detect environmental CO(2).
Publication types
-
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
-
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
-
Animals
-
Base Sequence
-
Biological Evolution
-
Caenorhabditis elegans / enzymology
-
Caenorhabditis elegans / physiology*
-
Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
-
Carbon Dioxide / metabolism*
-
Carbon Dioxide / toxicity
-
Chemotaxis / drug effects
-
Chemotaxis / physiology*
-
Cluster Analysis
-
DNA Primers / genetics
-
Gene Components
-
Guanylate Cyclase / metabolism*
-
Ion Channels / metabolism*
-
Microscopy, Confocal
-
Molecular Sequence Data
-
Neurons / metabolism*
-
Phylogeny
-
Receptors, Guanylate Cyclase-Coupled / metabolism*
-
Sequence Analysis, DNA
-
Smell / genetics
-
Smell / physiology*
-
Transgenes / genetics
Substances
-
Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
-
DNA Primers
-
Ion Channels
-
tax-2 protein, C elegans
-
tax-4 protein, C elegans
-
Carbon Dioxide
-
GCY-9 protein, C elegans
-
Guanylate Cyclase
-
Receptors, Guanylate Cyclase-Coupled
Associated data
-
GENBANK/HQ636455
-
GEO/GSE23769