Article
Genetics & Heredity
Shunji Nakano, Airi Nakayama, Hiroo Kuroyanagi, Riku Yamashiro, Yuki Tsukada, Ikue Mori
Summary: This study reveals the molecular mechanisms underlying thermotaxis behavior in C. elegans. The genes kin-4 and mec-2 are found to play important roles in regulating thermotaxis, and the gene crh-1 affects thermotaxis through its regulation in AFD.
G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Jihye Yeon, Charmi Porwal, Patrick T. Mcgrath, Piali Sengupta
Summary: Analyses of wild strains' genetic variants have helped to better understand the pathways underlying cellular functions. Generating RILs between C. elegans strains revealed spontaneous genetic changes in ttx-1 locus, which affects thermotaxis behaviors. These mutations, though complicating the identification of contributing loci, can lead to the discovery of important causal molecules and mechanisms.
G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shingo Hiroki, Hikari Yoshitane, Hinako Mitsui, Hirofumi Sato, Chie Umatani, Shinji Kanda, Yoshitaka Fukada, Yuichi Iino
Summary: This study reveals the synaptic plasticity-based migration mechanism in Caenorhabditis elegans, where the experienced and currently perceived salt concentration difference is encoded by the salt-sensing neuron ASER, affecting the postsynaptic response of reorientation-initiating neurons and guiding animals towards the experienced concentration.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jose Miguel Simoes, Joshua I. Levy, Emanuela E. Zaharieva, Leah T. Vinson, Peixiong Zhao, Michael H. Alpert, William L. Kath, Alessia Para, Marco Gallio
Summary: The study demonstrates that the avoidance of heat in fruit flies is not as hard-wired as previously believed, and actually exhibits unexpected plasticity. Fruit flies use small temperature differences between their antennae to steer away from thermal danger, suggesting that their heat avoidance behavior involves decision-making, rapid learning, and is robust to new conditions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tong Pan, Elizabeth A. Ronan, X. Z. Shawn Xu
Summary: A new study shows that the heat-sensing neuron AFD is responsible for attracting the parasitic nematode Strongyloides stercoralis to human body heat, using unknown neural mechanisms. Interestingly, this same neuron also plays a role in thermotaxis in the nematode C. elegans.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Haibo Chen, Xin Hua, Yue Yang, Chen Wang, Lide Jin, Chenyin Dong, Zhaofeng Chang, Ping Ding, Mingdeng Xiang, Hui Li, Yunjiang Yu
Summary: Chronic exposure to aged polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) may cause more severe neurotoxicity compared to virgin PS-MPs, affecting dopamine, glutamate, and serotonin neurotransmission. These findings highlight the potential risks of aged microplastics on the neural systems of organisms.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Biology
Ni Ji, Vivek Venkatachalam, Hillary Denise Rodgers, Wesley Hung, Taizo Kawano, Christopher M. Clark, Maria Lim, Mark J. Alkema, Mei Zhen, Aravinthan D. T. Samuel
Summary: Animals, including Caenorhabditis elegans, exhibit persistent behavioral and neural responses to stimuli. In this study, it was found that the worm uses feedback from the motor circuit to sustain its motor state during thermotactic navigation. The AIY interneuron encodes both temperature and motor state information, representing a corollary discharge signal for sustained neural activity and behavioral patterns.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Ichiro Aoki, Paola Jurado, Kanji Nawa, Rumi Kondo, Riku Yamashiro, Hironori J. Matsuyama, Isidre Ferrer, Shunji Nakano, Ikue Mori
Summary: This study analyzed the effect of starvation on the thermotaxis behavior of C. elegans and revealed the molecular and neural-circuit mechanism by which animals integrate information of their internal state with that of the external environment to modify their behavior.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ying Zhang, Chao Zhao, Hu Zhang, Qiang Lu, Jingjing Zhou, Ran Liu, Shizhi Wang, Yuepu Pu, Lihong Yin
Summary: The study revealed that copper pollution can cause trans-generational toxic effects on Caenorhabditis elegans and its offspring, affecting growth, neurons, oxidative stress response, and metal detoxification genes.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tao Ke, Abel Santamaria, Fernando Barbosa, Joao B. T. Rocha, Anatoly Skalny, Alexey A. Tinkov, Aaron B. Bowman, Michael Aschner
Summary: Developmental methylmercury exposures have age-dependent neurotoxic effects on glutamatergic neurons in C. elegans, which may be related to age-dependent modulation in glutamatergic neurotransmission and metabolic pathways.
NEUROCHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Chia-Cheng Wei, Nien-Chieh Yang, Chi-Wei Huang
Summary: This study conducted in vivo ZEN neurotoxicity assessment using Caenorhabditis elegans and found that ZEN exposure induced dopaminergic neuron damage and abnormal behaviors, as well as increased mitochondrial fragmentation. Moreover, upregulation of mitochondrial fission and apoptosis-related genes by ZEN exposure revealed the crucial role of DRP-1 on ZEN-induced neurotoxicity.
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Dominique A. Glauser
Summary: C. elegans, as a model organism, is used to study the molecular, cellular, and circuit-level processes involved in thermosensory information processing and plasticity.
CURRENT OPINION IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shuting Wang, Huanliang Liu, Man Qu, Dayong Wang
Summary: Neurotransmission related signals, specifically tyramine and glutamate, play crucial roles in regulating the toxicity of nanoplastics in Caenorhabditis elegans. Tyramine induces toxicity while glutamate alleviates toxicity, with both signals being mediated through neurons. Tyramine receptor TYRA-2 and glutamate receptors GLR-4 and GLR-8 act upstream of specific signaling pathways to regulate nanoplastic toxicity.
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yunjiang Yu, Dongli Xie, Yue Yang, Shihui Tan, Hongyan Li, Yao Dang, Mingdeng Xiang, Haibo Chen
Summary: This study used Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to investigate the neurotoxicity of polystyrene microplastics (PS) and carboxyl-modified polystyrene microplastics (PS-COOH). It was found that exposure to low concentrations of PS-COOH caused more severe neurotoxicity compared to pristine PS, and that PS-COOH affected neurotransmission by altering levels of dopamine, glutamate, serotonin, and GABA.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2023)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Patrick J. Hu
Summary: The study in C. elegans model showed that a conserved insulin-like signaling pathway plays an important role in shaping the phylogenetic composition of the gut microbiome.