Neuronal regulation of stress response in C. elegans: Role of the neurotransmitter tyramine

DE ROSA MARIA JOSE; VEUTHEY TANIA V; AGUIRRE NICOLAS; BLANCO MARIA GABRIELA; LEMUS CONSTANZA; RAYES DIEGO

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XXX Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2015

In nature, animals are frequently exposed to physiological andenvironmental challenges. The individual cellular response to these unfavorable conditions should be finely coordinated in multicellular organisms. The neural control of the systemic stress response wasfirst evidenced in the free-living nematode C.elegans. However, the identity of the systemic neural signal that integrates stress perception with the response in non-neuronal tissues remains unknown. Our analysis of the C.elegans neuronal wiring diagram reveals that the circuits activated upon exposure to stressful situations converge in the only tyraminergic neuron, RIM. Tyramine is theinvertebrate counterpart for adrenaline. Here we found that tyramine-deficient animals are resistant to thermal stress, starvation and pathogen infection. Moreover,these mutant strains exhibit molecular hallmarks of stressed worms, such asautophagy and lypolisis induction, even when they are grown under favorable conditions. Our results suggest that inhibition of the basal release of tyramine is a neuroendocrine signal required for acoordinated triggering of the stress response in C. elegans. This study contributes to a better understanding ofthe neurohormonal signaling that controls the systemic processes in multicellular organisms.