Sensory integration of food and population density during the diapause exit decision involves insulin- like signaling in Caenorhabditis

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zhang, Mark G.; Seyedolmohadesin, Maedeh; Mercado, Soraya Hawk; Tauffenberger, Arnaud; Park, Heenam; Finnen, Nerissa; Schroeder, Frank C.; Venkatachalam, Vivek; Sternberg, Paul W.
• 署名单位: California Institute of Technology; Northeastern University; Cornell University; Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research; Cornell University
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-9733
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2405391121
• 发表日期: 2024-10-01
• 关键词: dependent protein-kinase; nucleotide-gated channel; c-elegans; larval development; olfactory neuron; BEHAVIOR; transcription; pheromone; vesicle; maintenance

摘要

Decisions made over long time scales, such as life cycle decisions, require coordinated interplay between sensory perception and sustained gene expression. The Caenorhabditis elegans dauer (or diapause) exit developmental decision requires sensory integration of population density and food availability to induce an all- or- nothing organismal- wide response, but the mechanism by which this occurs remains unknown. Here, we to be critical for dauer exit, perform sensory integration at both the levels of gene expression and calcium activity. In response to favorable conditions, dauers rapidly produce and secrete the dauer exit- promoting insulin- like peptide INS- 6. Expression of ins- 6 in the ASJ neurons integrates population density and food level and can reflect decision commitment since dauers committed to exiting have higher ins- 6 expression levels than those of noncommitted dauers. Calcium imaging in dauers reveals that the ASJ neurons are activated by food, and this activity is suppressed by pheromone, indicating that sensory integration also occurs at the level of calcium transients. We find that ins- 6 expression in the ASJ neurons depends on neuronal activity in the ASJs, cGMP signaling, and the pheromone components ascr#8 and ascr#2. We propose a model in which decision commitment to exit the dauer state involves an autoregulatory feedback loop in the ASJ neurons that promotes high INS- 6 production and secretion. These results collectively demonstrate how insulin- like peptide signaling helps animals compute long- term decisions by bridging sensory perception to decision execution.