Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...
1: Nat Neurosci. 2003 Nov;6(11):1178-85. Epub 2003 Oct 12.
Related Articles, Links
Click here to read
Comment in:
Inhibition of Caenorhabditis elegans social feeding by FMRFamide-related peptide activation of NPR-1.

Rogers C, Reale V, Kim K, Chatwin H, Li C, Evans P, de Bono M.

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK.

Social and solitary feeding in natural Caenorhabditis elegans isolates are associated with two alleles of the orphan G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) NPR-1: social feeders contain NPR-1 215F, whereas solitary feeders contain NPR-1 215V. Here we identify FMRFamide-related neuropeptides (FaRPs) encoded by the flp-18 and flp-21 genes as NPR-1 ligands and show that these peptides can differentially activate the NPR-1 215F and NPR-1 215V receptors. Multicopy overexpression of flp-21 transformed wild social animals into solitary feeders. Conversely, a flp-21 deletion partially phenocopied the npr-1(null) phenotype, which is consistent with NPR-1 activation by FLP-21 in vivo but also implicates other ligands for NPR-1. Phylogenetic studies indicate that the dominant npr-1 215V allele likely arose from an ancestral npr-1 215F gene in C. elegans. Our data suggest a model in which solitary feeding evolved in an ancestral social strain of C. elegans by a gain-of-function mutation that modified the response of NPR-1 to FLP-18 and FLP-21 ligands.

Publication Types:
PMID: 14555955 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]