Ancestral glycoprotein hormone-receptor pathway controls growth in C. elegans

In vertebrates, thyrostimulin is a highly conserved glycoprotein hormone that, besides thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), is a potent ligand of the TSH receptor. Thyrostimulin is considered the most ancestral glycoprotein hormone and orthologs of its subunits, GPA2 and GPB5, are widely conserved across vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Unlike TSH, however, the functions of the thyrostimulin neuroendocrine system remain largely unexplored. Here, we identify a functional thyrostimulin-like signaling system in Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that orthologs of GPA2 and GPB5, together with thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) related neuropeptides, constitute a neuroendocrine pathway that promotes growth in C. elegans. GPA2/GPB5 signaling is required for normal body size and acts through activation of the glycoprotein hormone receptor ortholog FSHR-1. C. elegans GPA2 and GPB5 increase cAMP signaling by FSHR-1 in vitro. Both subunits are expressed in enteric neurons and promote growth by signaling to their receptor in glial cells and the intestine. Impaired GPA2/GPB5 signaling causes bloating of the intestinal lumen. In addition, mutants lacking thyrostimulin-like signaling show an increased defecation cycle period. Our study suggests that the thyrostimulin GPA2/GPB5 pathway is an ancient enteric neuroendocrine system that regulates intestinal function in ecdysozoans, and may ancestrally have been involved in the control of organismal growth

Poster Abstract: A Benchmark for Low-power Wireless Networking

International audienceExperimental research in low-power wireless networking lacks a reference benchmark. While other communities such as databases or machine learning have standardized benchmarks, our community still uses ad-hoc setups for its experiments and struggles to provide a fair comparison between communication protocols. Reasons for this include the diversity of network scenarios and the stochastic nature of wireless experiments. Leveraging on the excellent testbeds and tools that have been built to support experimental validation, we make the case for a reference benchmark to promote a fair comparison and reproducibility of results. This abstract describes early design elements and a benchmarking methodology with the goal to gather feedback from the community rather than propose a definite solution

Neuromedin U signaling regulates retrieval of learned salt avoidance in a C. elegans gustatory circuit

Humanity has always been intrigued by the nearly mythical properties ofthe brain. With its billions of neurons and innumerable connections, the human brain is of such a complex nature, that trying to understand it may seem a vain project. Yet, by using the 'mini-brain' of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, which shares many molecular components with the human brain but counts only 302 neurons, thorough research can penetrate into this complexity. We here pursue to contribute to a much-needed understanding of how learning and memory processes are regulated by neuropeptide signalling in the brain. Neuropeptides are small regulatory proteins that activate specific G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and are implicated in a variety of processes. Growing evidence exists for their involvement in learning and memory, but how they exert these effects is largely unexplored. Using the C. elegans genetic toolbox we will explore whether particular evolutionary conserved neuropeptide receptors belonging to the Neuromedin U- and short-Neuropeptide F- families are involved in the modulation of associative learning behaviour. The neuropeptide ligand(s) for the involved neuropeptide GPCR(s) will be identified, as well as the underlying cellular circuit(s). Once identified, these neuronal cells will be temporarily silenced using optogenetic techniques combined with the behavioural paradigm. This way, we hope to reveal in which aspects of memory storage and retrieval the identified neurons are involved.nrpages: 233status: publishe

The FMRFamide-like peptide family in nematodes (vol 5, 90, 2014)

[This corrects the article on p. 90 in vol. 5, PMID: 24982652.].status: publishe

Corrigendum: The FMRFamide-like peptide family in nematodes

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Neuropeptidergic modulation of C. elegans learning behavior

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Lumbosacrale plexopathie veroorzaakt door een gemetastaseerd adenocarcinoom van de maag

Maligne lumbosacrale plexopathie ontstaat voornamelijk door directe intra-abdominale tumoruitbreiding. Metastatische lumbosacrale aantasting komt minder voor en wordt gewoonlijk pas gezien bij gevorderde, systemische tumorverspreiding. Het adenocarcinoom van de maag is een veel voorkomende tumor, die vaak pas gevonden wordt in een gevorderd, palliatief stadium. Aan de hand van de MRI-beelden van een patiënte met een lumbosacrale plexopathie, wordt bij verdere uitwerking uiteindelijk de diagnose van een gemetastaseerd maagcarcinoom gesteld

Neuromedin U signaling in experience-dependent salt chemotaxis

Neuromedin U signaling in experience-dependent salt chemotaxis Jan Watteyne1, Petrus Van der Auwera1, Katleen Peymen1, Liliane Schoofs1, Isabel Beets1,2 1 Department of Biology, Functional Genomics and Proteomics Group, KU Leuven, Belgium 2 Cell Biology Division, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom Behavior is highly flexible and adaptive, and the brain’s ability to learn and remember from experience allows making predictions on future events and adjusting choices appropriately. Neuropeptides are important behavioral neuromodulators that are mainly thought to exert their function through G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Caenorhabditis elegans displays various adaptive behaviors, including experience-driven modulation of salt chemotaxis, a type of associative learning in which normal chemotaxis towards salt is modulated by pre-exposure to this substance in the absence of food. The evolutionarily conserved NMUR-1 receptor was found to potentiate this behavior when assaying various GPCR mutant worms in a candidate gene based approach. Neuromedin U like peptidesneuropeptides were found to activate the receptor by an in vitro reverse pharmacology approach. The behavior of worms defective in NMUR-1 neuropeptidergic signaling was quantified by video-tracking. Localization and rescue experiments showed the receptor to be present in various interneurons and sensory neurons, while neuropeptide expression is restricted to one sensory neuron, ASG. Neuronal silencing and imaging techniques are currently being utilized on this neuropeptide-releasing neuron to uncover the timing and cues leading to peptide release.Poster presentationstatus: accepte

Neuropeptidergic control of learning and memory

senior author abstractstatus: publishe