Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 326, Issue 5955, Pages 994-998Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1176331
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Funding
- NSF [IOS 0542372]
- NIH [R01 GM56223, P30 NS45713, R01 CA24487, F32 GM077943]
- Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture, Japan
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [21680035] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Intraspecific chemical communication is mediated by signals called pheromones. Caenorhabditis elegans secretes a mixture of small molecules (collectively termed dauer pheromone) that regulates entry into the alternate dauer larval stage and also modulates adult behavior via as yet unknown receptors. Here, we identify two heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that mediate dauer formation in response to a subset of dauer pheromone components. The SRBC-64 and SRBC-66 GPCRs are members of the large Caenorhabditis-specific SRBC subfamily and are expressed in the ASK chemosensory neurons, which are required for pheromone-induced dauer formation. Expression of both, but not each receptor alone, confers pheromone-mediated effects on heterologous cells. Identification of dauer pheromone receptors will allow a better understanding of the signaling cascades that transduce the context-dependent effects of ecologically important chemic al signals.
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