Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes
Animals with small nervous systems have a limited number of sensory neurons that must encode information from a changing environment. This problem is particularly exacerbated in nematodes that populate a wide variety of distinct ecological niches but only have a few sensory neurons available to enco...
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| Format: | Article |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-06-01
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/103796 |
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| author | Marisa Mackie Vivian Vy Le Heather R Carstensen Nicole R Kushnir Dylan L Castro Ivan M Dimov Kathleen T Quach Steven J Cook Oliver Hobert Sreekanth H Chalasani Ray L Hong |
| author_facet | Marisa Mackie Vivian Vy Le Heather R Carstensen Nicole R Kushnir Dylan L Castro Ivan M Dimov Kathleen T Quach Steven J Cook Oliver Hobert Sreekanth H Chalasani Ray L Hong |
| author_sort | Marisa Mackie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Animals with small nervous systems have a limited number of sensory neurons that must encode information from a changing environment. This problem is particularly exacerbated in nematodes that populate a wide variety of distinct ecological niches but only have a few sensory neurons available to encode multiple modalities. How does sensory diversity prevail within this constraint in neuron number? To identify the genetic basis for patterning different nervous systems, we demonstrate that sensory neurons in Pristionchus pacificus respond to various salt sensory cues in a manner that is partially distinct from that of the distantly related nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Previously we showed that P. pacificus likely lacked bilateral asymmetry (Hong et al., 2019). Here, we show that by visualizing neuronal activity patterns, contrary to previous expectations based on its genome sequence, the salt responses of P. pacificus are encoded in a left/right asymmetric manner in the bilateral ASE neuron pair. Our study illustrates patterns of evolutionary stability and change in the gustatory system of nematodes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3dba68e1b368482794e4e79da0d533f1 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj-art-3dba68e1b368482794e4e79da0d533f12025-06-30T13:18:25ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-06-011410.7554/eLife.103796Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodesMarisa Mackie0https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5549-4453Vivian Vy Le1Heather R Carstensen2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2679-3286Nicole R Kushnir3https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9040-3669Dylan L Castro4Ivan M Dimov5Kathleen T Quach6Steven J Cook7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1345-7566Oliver Hobert8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7634-2854Sreekanth H Chalasani9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2522-8338Ray L Hong10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1870-8659Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, United StatesDepartment of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, United StatesDepartment of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, United StatesDepartment of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, United StatesDepartment of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, United StatesDepartment of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, United StatesMolecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, United StatesDepartment of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United StatesDepartment of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United StatesMolecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, United StatesDepartment of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, United StatesAnimals with small nervous systems have a limited number of sensory neurons that must encode information from a changing environment. This problem is particularly exacerbated in nematodes that populate a wide variety of distinct ecological niches but only have a few sensory neurons available to encode multiple modalities. How does sensory diversity prevail within this constraint in neuron number? To identify the genetic basis for patterning different nervous systems, we demonstrate that sensory neurons in Pristionchus pacificus respond to various salt sensory cues in a manner that is partially distinct from that of the distantly related nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Previously we showed that P. pacificus likely lacked bilateral asymmetry (Hong et al., 2019). Here, we show that by visualizing neuronal activity patterns, contrary to previous expectations based on its genome sequence, the salt responses of P. pacificus are encoded in a left/right asymmetric manner in the bilateral ASE neuron pair. Our study illustrates patterns of evolutionary stability and change in the gustatory system of nematodes.https://elifesciences.org/articles/103796Pristionchus pacificuslateral asymmetrycalcium imaging |
| spellingShingle | Marisa Mackie Vivian Vy Le Heather R Carstensen Nicole R Kushnir Dylan L Castro Ivan M Dimov Kathleen T Quach Steven J Cook Oliver Hobert Sreekanth H Chalasani Ray L Hong Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes eLife Pristionchus pacificus lateral asymmetry calcium imaging |
| title | Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes |
| title_full | Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes |
| title_fullStr | Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes |
| title_short | Evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes |
| title_sort | evolution of lateralized gustation in nematodes |
| topic | Pristionchus pacificus lateral asymmetry calcium imaging |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/103796 |
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