RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A conserved neuropeptide system links head and body motor circuits to enable adaptive behavior
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.04.27.064550
DO 10.1101/2020.04.27.064550
A1 Shankar Ramachandran
A1 Navonil Banerjee
A1 Raja Bhattacharya
A1 Michele L Lemons
A1 Jeremy Florman
A1 Christopher M. Lambert
A1 Denis Touroutine
A1 Kellianne Alexander
A1 Liliane Schoofs
A1 Mark J Alkema
A1 Isabel Beets
A1 Michael M. Francis
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/11/03/2020.04.27.064550.abstract
AB Neuromodulators promote adaptive behaviors that are often complex and involve concerted activity changes across circuits that are often not physically connected. It is not well understood how neuromodulatory systems accomplish these tasks. Here we show that the C. elegans NLP-12 neuropeptide system shapes responses to food availability by modulating the activity of head and body wall motor neurons through alternate G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targets, CKR-1 and CKR-2. We show ckr-2 deletion reduces body bend depth during movement under basal conditions. We demonstrate CKR-1 is a functional NLP-12 receptor and define its expression in the nervous system. In contrast to basal locomotion, biased CKR-1 GPCR stimulation of head motor neurons promotes turning during local searching. Deletion of ckr-1 reduces head neuron activity and diminishes turning while specific ckr-1 overexpression or head neuron activation promote turning. Thus, our studies suggest locomotor responses to changing food availability are regulated through conditional NLP-12 stimulation of head or body wall motor circuits.Impact statement Investigation of neuromodulatory control of ethologically conserved area-restricted food search behavior shows that NLP-12 stimulation of the head motor circuit promotes food searching through the previously uncharacterized CKR-1 GPCR.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.