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- Title
D-Serine and D-Alanine Regulate Adaptive Foraging Behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans via the NMDA Receptor.
- Authors
Yasuaki Saitoh; Masumi Katane; Tetsuya Miyamoto; Masae Sekine; Kumiko Sakai-Kato; Hiroshi Homma
- Abstract
D-Serine (D-Ser) is a coagonist for NMDA-type glutamate receptors and is thus important for higher brain function. D-Ser is synthesized by serine racemase and degraded by D-amino acid oxidase. However, the significance of these enzymes and the relevant functions of D-amino acids remain unclear. Here, we show that in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the serine racemase homolog SERR-1 and D-amino acid oxidase DAAO-1 control an adaptive foraging behavior. Similar to many organisms, C. elegans immediately initiates local search for food when transferred to a new environment. With prolonged food deprivation, the worms exhibit a long-range dispersal behavior as the adaptive foraging strategy. We found that serr-1 deletion mutants did not display this behavior, whereas daao-1 deletion mutants immediately engaged in long-range dispersal after food removal. A quantitative analysis of D-amino acids indicated that D-Ser and D-alanine (D-Ala) are both synthesized and suppressed during food deprivation. A behavioral pharmacological analysis showed that the long-range dispersal behavior requires NMDA receptor desensitization. Long-term pretreatment with D-Ala, as well as with an NMDA receptor agonist, expanded the area searched by wild-type worms immediately after food removal, whereas pretreatment with D-Ser did not. We propose that D-Ser and D-Ala are endogenous regulators that cooperatively induce the long-range dispersal behavior in C. elegans through actions on the NMDA receptor.
- Subjects
METHYL aspartate receptors; FORAGING behavior; CAENORHABDITIS elegans; ADAPTABILITY (Personality); GLUTAMATE receptors; CYCLOSERINE
- Publication
Journal of Neuroscience, 2020, Vol 40, Issue 39, p7531
- ISSN
0270-6474
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2358-19.2020