Abstract
Thousands of behavioral mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans have been studied. I suggest a set of criteria by which some genes important in the evolution of behavior might be recognized, and identify neuropeptide signaling pathways as candidates.
Highlights
Thousands of behavioral mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans have been studied
Affect morphology (29) or muscle contraction (9); another 5 of Brenner’s 100 genes are no longer thought to be distinct genes.) In part this is because Brenner and his postdocs and students were interested in the function of the nervous system, but it was a consequence of technical constraints
We have at least some information about the functions of most of the 118 types of neurons in the hermaphrodite [3,4], and only one of them, CAN, is known to be essential in the lab. (Worms lacking CAN wither and fail to grow, but its exact function is still not clear.) The feeding motor neuron M4 was reported to be essential [5], but it has since been found that M4-minus worms are viable and fertile when grown on small bacteria (JT Chiang, M Steciuk, B Shtonda, and L Avery, unpublished)
Summary
Thousands of behavioral mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans have been studied. I suggest a set of criteria by which some genes important in the evolution of behavior might be recognized, and identify neuropeptide signaling pathways as candidates. Of the 95 genes listed in Table 4 of Brenner’s first paper on the genetics of C. elegans, 57 affect nervous system function and behavior. The mutations we study are unlikely fodder for evolution, the genes they identify might, if their functions were more subtly altered, tweak behavior in adaptive ways.
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