Food and metabolic signalling defects in a Caenorhabditis elegans serotonin-synthesis mutant

Ji Ying Sze, Martin Victor, Curtis Loer, Yang Shi and Gary Ruvkun ()
Additional contact information
Ji Ying Sze: Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Martin Victor: Harvard Medical School
Curtis Loer: University of San Diego
Yang Shi: Harvard Medical School
Gary Ruvkun: Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Nature, 2000, vol. 403, issue 6769, 560-564

Abstract: Abstract The functions of serotonin have been assigned through serotonin-receptor-specific drugs and mutants1,2; however, because a constellation of receptors remains when a single receptor subtype is inhibited, the coordinate responses to modulation of serotonin levels may be missed. Here we report the analysis of behavioural and neuroendocrine defects caused by a complete lack of serotonin signalling. Analysis of the C. elegans genome sequence showed that there is a single tryptophan hydroxylase gene (tph-1)—the key enzyme for serotonin biosynthesis. Animals bearing a tph-1 deletion mutation do not synthesize serotonin but are fully viable. The tph-1 mutant shows abnormalities in behaviour and metabolism that are normally coupled with the sensation and ingestion of food: rates of feeding and egg laying are decreased; large amounts of fat are stored; reproductive lifespan is increased; and some animals arrest at the metabolically inactive dauer stage. This metabolic dysregulation is, in part, due to downregulation of tranforming growth factor-β and insulin-like neuroendocrine signals. The action of the C. elegans serotonergic system in metabolic control is similar to mammalian serotonergic input to metabolism and obesity2.

Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35000609 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:403:y:2000:i:6769:d:10.1038_35000609

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35000609

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().