Mutations in a Cyclic Nucleotide–Gated Channel Lead to Abnormal Thermosensation and Chemosensation in C. elegans

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 707 - 718
• Main Authors: Komatsu, Hidetoshi, Mori, Ikue, Rhee, Jeong-Seop, Akaike, Norio, Ohshima, Yasumi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-10-1996
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics; Caenorhabditis elegans - physiology; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; Cattle; Chemotaxis; Cyclic GMP - metabolism; Drosophila; Drosophila Proteins; Genes, Helminth; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Humans; Ion Channels - biosynthesis; Ion Channels - chemistry; Ion Channels - genetics; Luminescent Proteins - biosynthesis; Macromolecular Substances; Membrane Potentials; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutagenesis; Neurons, Afferent - physiology; Potassium Channels - chemistry; Protein Structure, Secondary; Rats; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - biosynthesis; Second Messenger Systems; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels; Temperature
• ISSN: 0896-6273; 1097-4199
• DOI: 10.1016/S0896-6273(00)80202-0

The C. elegans
tax-4 mutants are abnormal in multiple sensory behaviors: they fail to respond to temperature or to water-soluble or volatile chemical attractants. We show that the predicted
tax-4 gene product is highly homologous to vertebrate cyclic nucleotide–gated channels. Tax-4 protein expressed in cultured cells functions as a cyclic nucleotide–gated channel. The green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged functional Tax-4 protein is expressed in thermosensory, gustatory, and olfactory neurons mediating all the sensory behaviors affected by the
tax-4 mutations. The Tax-4::GFP fusion is partly localized at the sensory endings of these neurons. The results suggest that a cyclic nucleotide–gated channel is required for thermosensation and chemosensation and that cGMP is an important intracellular messenger in C. elegans sensory transduction.