| Title: | Steroid hormone pathways coordinate developmental diapause and olfactory remodeling in Pristionchus pacificus |
| Author(s): | Carstensen HR; Villalon RM; Banerjee N; Hallem EA; Hong RL; |
| Address: | "Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA 91330-8303, USA. Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1943-2631 (Electronic) 0016-6731 (Print) 0016-6731 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Developmental and behavioral plasticity allow animals to prioritize alternative genetic programs during fluctuating environments. Behavioral remodeling may be acute in animals that interact with host organisms, since reproductive adults and the developmentally arrested larvae often have different ethological needs for chemical stimuli. To understand the genes that coordinate the development and host-seeking behavior, we used the entomophilic nematode Pristionchus pacificus to characterize dauer-constitutive mutants (Daf-c) that inappropriately enter developmental diapause to become dauer larvae. We found two Daf-c loci with dauer-constitutive and cuticle exsheathment phenotypes that can be rescued by the feeding of Delta7-dafachronic acid, and that are dependent on the conserved canonical steroid hormone receptor Ppa-DAF-12. Specifically at one locus, deletions in the sole hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) in P. pacificus resulted in Daf-c phenotypes. Ppa-hsd-2 is expressed in the canal-associated neurons (CANs) and excretory cells whose homologous cells in Caenorhabditis elegans are not known to be involved in the dauer decision. While in wildtype only dauer larvae are attracted to host odors, hsd-2 mutant adults show enhanced attraction to the host beetle pheromone, along with ectopic activation of a marker for putative olfactory neurons, Ppa-odr-3. Surprisingly, this enhanced odor attraction acts independently of the Delta7-DA/DAF-12 module, suggesting that Ppa-HSD-2 may be responsible for several steroid hormone products involved in coordinating the dauer decision and host-seeking behavior in P. pacificus" |
| Keywords: | "Animals;Animals Cholestenes/metabolism Coleoptera/metabolism/parasitology Diapause/*genetics *Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental Genetic Loci Helminth Proteins/genetics/metabolism *Host-Seeking Behavior Larva Metabolic Networks and Pathways/genetics Mutati;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineCarstensen, Heather R Villalon, Reinard M Banerjee, Navonil Hallem, Elissa A Hong, Ray L eng R01 DC017959/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ SC3 GM105579/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ T34 GM008395/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ F32 AI147617/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ 2021/05/09 Genetics. 2021 Jun 24; 218(2):iyab071. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyab071" |
