Insulin-like signaling and the neural circuit for integrative behavior in C. elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans exhibits a food-associated behavior that is modulated by the past cultivation temperature. Mutations in INS-1, the homolog of human insulin, caused the defect in this integrative behavior. Mutations in DAF-2/insulin receptor and AGE-1/phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI-3)-kinase partially suppressed the defect of ins-1 mutants, and a mutation in DAF-16, a forkhead-type transcriptional factor, caused a weak defect. In addition, mutations in the secretory protein HEN-1 showed synergistic effects with INS-1. Expression of AGE-1 in any of the three interneurons, AIY, AIZ, or RIA, rescued the defect characteristic of age-1 mutants. Calcium imaging revealed that starvation induced INS-1-mediated down-regulation of AIZ activity. Our results suggest that INS-1, in cooperation with HEN-1, antagonizes the DAF-2 insulin-like signaling pathway to modulate interneuron activity required for food-associated integrative behavior.