A role for dopamine in C. elegans avoidance behavior induced by mitochondrial stress
Journal
Neuroscience Research
Date Issued
2022-01-01
Author(s)
Abstract
Physiological stress triggers aversive learning that profoundly alters animal behavior. Systemic mitochondrial disruption induces avoidance of C. elegans to non-pathogenic food bacteria. Mutations in cat-2 and dat-1, which control dopamine synthesis and reuptake, respectively, impair this learned bacterial avoidance, suggesting that dopaminergic modulation is essential. Cell-specific rescue experiments indicate that dopamine likely acts from the CEP and ADE neurons to regulate learned bacterial avoidance. We find that mutations in multiple dopamine receptor genes, including dop-1, dop-2 and dop-3, reduced learned bacterial avoidance. Our work reveals a role for dopamine signaling in C. elegans learned avoidance behavior induced by mitochondrial stress.
Subjects
Aversive learning | Avoidance behavior | C. elegans | Dopamine | Mitochondria | Neural circuit | Stress
SDGs
Type
journal article