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Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans

Individuals within a species vary in their responses to a wide range of stimuli, partly as a result of differences in their genetic makeup. Relatively little is known about the genetic and neuronal mechanisms contributing to diversity of behavior in natural populations. By studying intraspecies vari...

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Autores principales: Ghosh, Rajarshi, Bloom, Joshua S., Mohammadi, Aylia, Schumer, Molly E., Andolfatto, Peter, Ryu, William, Kruglyak, Leonid
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Genetics Society of America 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4574258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26092720
http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.178491
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author Ghosh, Rajarshi
Bloom, Joshua S.
Mohammadi, Aylia
Schumer, Molly E.
Andolfatto, Peter
Ryu, William
Kruglyak, Leonid
author_facet Ghosh, Rajarshi
Bloom, Joshua S.
Mohammadi, Aylia
Schumer, Molly E.
Andolfatto, Peter
Ryu, William
Kruglyak, Leonid
author_sort Ghosh, Rajarshi
collection PubMed
description Individuals within a species vary in their responses to a wide range of stimuli, partly as a result of differences in their genetic makeup. Relatively little is known about the genetic and neuronal mechanisms contributing to diversity of behavior in natural populations. By studying intraspecies variation in innate avoidance behavior to thermal stimuli in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, we uncovered genetic principles of how different components of a behavioral response can be altered in nature to generate behavioral diversity. Using a thermal pulse assay, we uncovered heritable variation in responses to a transient temperature increase. Quantitative trait locus mapping revealed that separate components of this response were controlled by distinct genomic loci. The loci we identified contributed to variation in components of thermal pulse avoidance behavior in an additive fashion. Our results show that the escape behavior induced by thermal stimuli is composed of simpler behavioral components that are influenced by at least six distinct genetic loci. The loci that decouple components of the escape behavior reveal a genetic system that allows independent modification of behavioral parameters. Our work sets the foundation for future studies of evolution of innate behaviors at the molecular and neuronal level.
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spelling pubmed-45742582015-09-21 Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans Ghosh, Rajarshi Bloom, Joshua S. Mohammadi, Aylia Schumer, Molly E. Andolfatto, Peter Ryu, William Kruglyak, Leonid Genetics Investigations Individuals within a species vary in their responses to a wide range of stimuli, partly as a result of differences in their genetic makeup. Relatively little is known about the genetic and neuronal mechanisms contributing to diversity of behavior in natural populations. By studying intraspecies variation in innate avoidance behavior to thermal stimuli in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, we uncovered genetic principles of how different components of a behavioral response can be altered in nature to generate behavioral diversity. Using a thermal pulse assay, we uncovered heritable variation in responses to a transient temperature increase. Quantitative trait locus mapping revealed that separate components of this response were controlled by distinct genomic loci. The loci we identified contributed to variation in components of thermal pulse avoidance behavior in an additive fashion. Our results show that the escape behavior induced by thermal stimuli is composed of simpler behavioral components that are influenced by at least six distinct genetic loci. The loci that decouple components of the escape behavior reveal a genetic system that allows independent modification of behavioral parameters. Our work sets the foundation for future studies of evolution of innate behaviors at the molecular and neuronal level. Genetics Society of America 2015-08 2015-06-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4574258/ /pubmed/26092720 http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.178491 Text en Copyright © 2015 by the Genetics Society of America Available freely online through the author-supported open access option.
spellingShingle Investigations
Ghosh, Rajarshi
Bloom, Joshua S.
Mohammadi, Aylia
Schumer, Molly E.
Andolfatto, Peter
Ryu, William
Kruglyak, Leonid
Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans
title Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_fullStr Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full_unstemmed Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_short Genetics of Intraspecies Variation in Avoidance Behavior Induced by a Thermal Stimulus in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_sort genetics of intraspecies variation in avoidance behavior induced by a thermal stimulus in caenorhabditis elegans
topic Investigations
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4574258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26092720
http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.178491
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